The U.S. Department of Energy has selected a massive solar power plant to be built in California and Tesla Motors’ planned electric car factory in New Mexico as two of 16 projects eligible for up to $2 billion in federal loan guarantees. Such guarantees can prove critical in securing financing for untested technologies like the distributed power tower design planned for a 400-megawatt solar energy plant to be built by BrightSource Energy of Oakland, California, in Southern California’s Mojave Desert. Silicon Valley’s Tesla Motors intends to produce its WhiteStar electric sports sedan at the New Mexico factory. (The company’s first vehicle, the Roadster sports car, is being built in the U.K.)
"DOE’s action today will pave the way for federal support of clean energy projects using innovative technologies and will spur further investment in these advanced energy technologies," the Energy Department said in a statement. Other projects invited to submit final applications for the loan guarantees range from so-called clean coal power plants to fuel cell factories to biofuel production facilities.
Green Wombat 
It’s been so long since I’ve seen government policy that I approve of at a deep philosophical level, I almost didn’t recognize it. This kind of activity is the third of the three legitmate things a national government can do: 1) protect the borders, 2) provide for domestic health and tranquility, and 3) facilitate positive, large-scale endeavors of in and for the community.
I agree with Zephyr – although I would add that my first impression was more along the lines of ‘What took you so long?’ Still, it’s encouraging to see energy policy moving in the right direction.
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Hello there,
Encouraging development. However, like any good business person, we have to be aware of possible threats to a projected enterprise.
I believe we have to recognise the resistance, covert and overt, that is likely to be mounted by the enormous vested interests who have a stake in marketing conventionally generated power.
It may be claimed that development in renewable sources of energy is favoured; but are these interests committed to a planned switch over *before full depletion* of fossil resources?