Together with several other renewable energy advocacy organizations, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has written a letter to President Obama calling on his administration to promptly develop regulations that will allow renewable energy projects to participate in two loan guarantee programs administered by the Department of Energy (DOE).
The two programs – the new Section 1705 loan guarantee program for renewable energy projects authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the existing Section 1703 loan guarantee program established in 2005 for innovative clean energy technology projects – ‘will significantly increase access to debt financing for clean energy projects at a time when sources of capital in the private markets have been substantially reduced,’ the industry associations wrote.
‘Unfortunately, the regulations necessary to implement these programs effectively have not yet been developed,’ they continued. ‘It is critical that new regulations be developed to implement Section 1705 and to address defects in the existing Section 1703 rules, and we appreciate that DOE is working diligently to develop such regulations. We understand, however, that there are disagreements between DOE and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) over these regulations, as evidenced by the fact that DOE's draft revised regulations for the Section 1703 program were submitted to OMB more than two months ago and have not been acted on.’
‘We are not seeking additional budgetary funding for these loan guarantee programs,’ SEIA and the other authors noted. ‘We ask only that funds already authorized be made available expeditiously and under reasonable terms and conditions so as to facilitate the financing of worthy projects, in full compliance with appropriate government oversight, transparency and accountability.’
For a copy of the full letter, visit www.seia.org.
SOURCE: Solar Energy Industries Association
