Nevada Geothermal Project Gets DOE Loan Guarantee
DOE announced on September 7 a partial guarantee for a $98.5 million loan to the 49.5 MW Blue Mountain "Faulkner 1" geothermal project in northwestern Nevada.
The project consists of a geothermal well field along with fluid collection and injection systems that enable energy to be extracted from rock and fluid below the Earth's surface. The project has a 20-year power purchase agreement to sell electricity and renewable energy credits to Nevada Geothermal Power, Inc.
The loan guarantee was issued under DOE's Financial Institution Partnership Program (FIPP), which is supported by the Recovery Act. FIPP is designed to expedite the loan guarantee process for renewable energy generation projects that use commercial technologies. It also helps to expand credit capacity for financing of U.S. renewable energy projects.
In a FIPP financing, DOE provides a partial guarantee for up to 80% of a loan provided to a renewable energy project by qualified financial institutions. DOE has now either issued loan guarantees or offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees to support 14 clean energy projects. See press releases from DOE and Nevada Geothermal, as well as the Loan Guarantee Program Web site.
DOE, USDA to Develop Better Bioenergy Plants
DOE and the USDA announced an $8.9 million award for a joint genetic breeding program that will create plants better suited for bioenergy production.
DOE's genome-scale technologies and USDA's experience in crop improvement will be leveraged to accelerate development of specialized perennials, including trees and other nonfood plants, and to improve their effectiveness as feedstocks for biofuels production.
DOE's Office of Science will contribute $6.9 million for seven projects and USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture will award $2 million to two projects.
The projects, supported for up to three years, will search for long-range solutions. For example, Texas A&M University will work to identify the genetic and biochemical basis for increasing yield and to improve the composition of high-biomass cellulosic energy sorghum. Once genotypes are analyzed, scientists can create better bioenergy grasses.
At the University of Illinois, researchers will examine the role of small RNA molecules in biomass production. In particular, they will study how RNA regulates cellulose and lignin, which make up most of the next-generation biofuel crops. The findings could help enrich the energy potential of crops such as miscanthus, switchgrass, and prairie cordgrass. See the DOE press release and the joint DOE-USDA Plant Feedstock Genomics for Bioenergy research program Web site.
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EREE Network News is a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
