Alana Goodman of the Washington Free Beacon reports dubious actions from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Department of Energy loan office quadrupled its available lending budget to over $240 billion this week, as Biden officials rush to approve a flurry of “green energy” loans before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The DOE Loan Programs Office (LPO) said on Tuesday that it’s increasing its lending power under the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment program from $57 billion to $246 billion in the final months of Biden’s presidency.
The announcement comes amid speculation over Trump’s plans for the controversial office, which is under investigation by Republican lawmakers and the DOE inspector general over potential conflicts of interest relating to loan disbursements. Trump advisers proposed shutting down the LPO in 2016, but now some are suggesting that he use it to fund domestic fossil fuel production.
In a statement announcing the increase, LPO director Jigar Shah said his office plans to give out less risky loans and, therefore, will not need to set aside as much money for credit subsidies, which are mandated by Congress in case a borrower defaults. Because of this, he said the LPO can increase its lending budget to its full capacity.
“Less credit subsidy may be required for such projects, allowing LPO to potentially finance more projects,” Shah said. “Accordingly, LPO is revising its reported loan guarantee authority under [the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment program] to now reflect the statutory maximum loan guarantee authority.”
The office has ramped up its loan disbursements since September, with some of that funding going to companies with prior financial connections to Shah.
Last month, the office finalized an $861 million loan to AES Marahu, a subsidiary of AES Corporation, to fund the construction of solar farms in Puerto Rico.
In 2017, Shah sold his solar company, sPower, to AES for $850 million.
