Friday, September 30, 2011

With a midnight deadline looming, the Energy Department has approved three more loan guarantees for solar energy totaling about $3.5 billion.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu says the department has completed a
$1.5 billion loan guarantee to Arizona-based First Solar Inc. for a 550-megawatt solar farm on federal land in Southern California and
$646 million to Exelon Corp. for a 230-megawatt solar plant near
Los Angeles.

A third project, worth $1.4 billion, will support installation of about 750 solar rooftop panels in 28 states.

The loans were approved under the same program that paid for a
$528 million loan to Solyndra Inc. a now-bankrupt solar panel maker that has become a symbol for critics of the Obama administration's green energy program.

The loan program expires on Friday.