Department of Energy Offers $2 Billion in Conditional Loan Guarantee Commitments for Two California Concentrating Solar Power Plants

Press Release

Projects Will Create Nearly 1,800 Jobs, Expand CSP Deployment, and Drive Down Cost of Solar Installations

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the offer of conditional commitments to provide loan guarantees to support two concentrating solar power (CSP) projects - the Mojave Solar Project (MSP) in San Bernardino County, California, and the Genesis Solar Project, located on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Riverside County, California. The Department is offering a conditional commitment for a $1.2 billion loan guarantee to support the Mojave Solar Project and a conditional commitment for up to a $681.6 million loan guarantee to support the Genesis Solar Project. At 250 megawatts (MW) each, the projects' combined capacity will double the nation's currently installed CSP capacity and displace a total of 40 percent of the output from a typical 500MW coal-fired plant. Abengoa Solar Inc., the Mojave Solar project sponsor, estimates that project will create more than 830 construction jobs and 70 operating jobs. NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, the Genesis Solar project sponsor, estimates that project will create approximately 800 construction jobs and 47 operating jobs.

"These projects represent an important step in the development of solar as an affordable, clean energy resource in this country," said Secretary Chu. "By investing in the commercial-scale deployment of solar technologies, we can create greater efficiencies that will lower the cost of solar power while creating jobs and increasing our global competitiveness in this key industry."

"Today's announcement demonstrates the potential for the loan guarantee program to drive private investment for large-scale, clean-energy projects and create hundreds of jobs in California," said U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. "The loan guarantee for Abengoa Solar will finance a widely-supported and fully permitted solar plant on private, disturbed lands in San Bernardino County. The loan guarantee to finance NextEra's project in Riverside County will enable construction of a large-scale solar plant in a county devastated by the economic downturn. Together these projects will create more than 1,700 jobs in California. I hope the Energy Department and OMB will finalize these loans as quickly as possible."

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