BrightSource Energy Inc has received the biggest backing ever for a renewable energy project from the U.S. government when they were recently guaranteed $1.73 in loans, JSM Financial was told.
The company’s planned solar thermal plants are expected to generate around 400MW of electricity capable of powering about 140,000 Californian homes, making it a big enough player to be able to compete with fossil fuel burning power plants and natural gas facilities.
The Obama administration has recently been emphasizing green energy investment as an opportunity for job creation and a means of increasing international economic competitiveness.
JSM Financial was informed that due to the huge scale of these renewable energy projects the financing is difficult to source after the tightening of the credit market.
The solar industry has seen many projects launched and many agreements signed with major power utilities looking to solar energy to meet the Californian clean energy targets, but to date no large scale construction has begun.
The U.S Department of Energy who awarded the conditional loan guarantees, the largest federal loan to a renewable energy firm, said the money was aimed at helping BrightSource build three utility-scale solar thermal plants to be located on federally owned land in the Mojave Desert in southern California.
"It's a good beginning for the industry," JSM Financial believes the BrightSource CEO said in a recent interview. "It really allows Ivanpah to be the first (solar thermal) project to be constructed in almost 20 years now" in California.
