More than 20 renewable energy projects in California, representing about $30 billion in investments, are being held up by a slow approval process in the U.S. Department of Energy, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Seven major solar thermal projects and about a dozen wind farms have been cleared or almost cleared by state authorities and the U.S. Department of Interior. But the DOE's loan guarantee process is dragging along.
Project developers stand to lose up to $10 billion in federal stimulus funding if they don't break ground on the projects by the end of the year.
The projects represent a tenfold increase in the state's solar power capacity and they are expected to create around 12,000 renewable energy jobs.
"Without immediate and urgent attention from the DOE, many of these projects will not be financed and built," Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote in a letter toEnergy Secretary Steven Chu last week.
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