Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

DOE places dozens of loan guarantee applications on hold

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Kris Bevill May 23, 2011

The head of the U.S. DOE’s loan guarantee programs has issued letters to multiple applicants, informing them that their projects are being placed on hold due to timing restrictions. The 1705 loan guarantee program is set to expire on Sept. 30, which means that in order to participate in the program, projects must have closed on the loan guarantee and begin construction by that date. In a blog posted to the DOE’s website on May 10, Jonathan Silver, director of the loan programs office, said this rigorous schedule will make it impossible for all of the current applicants to succeed by the end date, and therefore the DOE will continue to work with only those companies that are farthest along in the application process.

“Recognizing that generating an application and supporting it through the review process is both time consuming and expensive, we are placing a number of other applications on hold,” Silver wrote. “This does not mean they are not quality projects, it simply means other applicants that are further along are more likely to meet the program’s deadline and consume the available funding.”

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