WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Thursday he hopes the department can begin approving loan guarantees authorized by the stimulus for renewable energy projects by early summer.
"We need to start this work in a matter of months, not years -- while insisting on the highest standard of accountability," Chu told reporters at Platts Energy Podium in Washington D.C.
The stimulus package signed into law by President Barack Obama earlier this week provides $6 billion in loan guarantees for clean energy and electricity transmission
projects.
Loan guarantees, already authorized by Congress several years ago for various types of energy, should begin to be approved by late April or early May.
Recipients of guarantees from the department may have to secure a certain share of their own financing before completing their loans, however, according to the department.
Overall, Chu said he plans to disperse 70 percent of the funds allocated to the department in the stimulus package by the end of 2010.
The department, currently facing a backlog loan guarantee requests, is streamlining its approval process.
(Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by John Picinich)
