Solar Millennium expects to receive loan guarantees from US energy dept

(ADPnews) - Oct 15, 2010 - Solar Trust of America, the US arm of German solar technology company Solar Millennium AG (ETR:S2M), is confident it will eventually get loan guarantees from the US Department of Energy (DoE) to fund several projects in the US, the firm's CEO Uwe Schmidt said yesterday.

According to Schmidt, the firm's Blythe project with a total capacity of nearly 1,000 MW will not gain approval this year as originally expected. He said that company officials met with DoE representatives on Tuesday but did not reveal what the department is still missing in Solar Millennium's application.

The Blythe project already got green light from the California Energy Commission but it is still awaiting approval from the US Bureau of Land Management.

However, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Treasury Department provides grants to renewable energy projects whose construction began in 2009 or 2010. That is why the company could start the construction of the Blythe plant by December 31, 2010, even without the loan guarantees in order to qualify for the Treasury grant, equal to 30% of the basis of the property for solar energy.

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