The loan guarantee from the DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) forms part of the US Government’s Clean Power Plan, and is intended to support commercial-scale distributed energy projects including rooftop solar with storage and smart grid technology.
The DOE will also fund $24m, through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), for the development of 11 high-performance solar power projects, to improve the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems.
US Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said: "The announcements made today will help spur innovative clean energy technologies that will be central to the president’s Clean Power Plan and combat climate change.
"The Clean Power Plan is a tremendous opportunity for American businesses to be global leaders in solar and distributed energy technologies.
"This will help shepherd in a new era of clean energy jobs and a low-carbon economy that will deliver affordable and reliable power to America’s homes and businesses."
US President Barak Obama was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying that green energy resources are a viable solution to combat climate change, which is "one of the most important issues not just of our time, but of any time."
