Green Energy Reporter

Back in March, as the first draft of the Obama administration’s massive green energy investment program began to emerge, we asked if the Department of the Treasury was poised to become cleantech’s new venture capital fund (The Treasury: clean energy’s new VC).

It turns out that we were wrong. Treasury only administers the Obama administration’s green energy funds. The Department of Energy is where the power is, since it actually decides who gets the money. For confirmation of DOE’s growing power, look no further than this press release announcing the appointment of Jonathan Silver, a Washington-based venture capitalist, as the executive director of the DOE’s loan program office. DOE (not Treasury) is clean energy’s new VC. The appointment is yet another indication of the agency’s transformation as one of Washington’s leading funding sources.

In this role, Silver will decide what clean energy and automobile companies get money. Besides the energy loan guarantees, Silver is also in charge of the Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program.

Silver joins the DOE from Core Capital Partners, a Washington-based venture fund where he was a managing partner overseeing investments in alternative energy, technology and advanced manufacturing. He’s also a former McKinsey and Company consultant, where he worked with Matt Rogers, a DOE senior adviser who oversees all ARRA-funded investments.

Long a dusty cabinet outpost in charge of administering the country’s nuclear arsenal, DOE, now led by a Nobel laureate, is on the frontline as it executes the Obama administration’s ambitious (green) energy policy, overseeing  an unprecedented amount of capital. The loan guarantee program is backed by $32 billion in government funding and there is $25 billion for the ATVM initiative.

The loan guarantees are not part of the stimulus program. They were created as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Despite a commitment early in his term by Secretary Chu to speed up their disbursements, so far only a handful of companies are slated to get these the funds. They include CIGS solar cell maker Solyndra ($535 million), energy storage developer Beacon Power ($43 million), and Nordic Windpower ($16 million), a developer of low cost two-blade turbines.

Silver’s job (and priority) will be to speed up the DOE’s general funding process at a time when renewable energy industry lobbyists are growing impatient. We’ve called DOE in Washington for more details on the Silver appointment and will keep you updated on any new developments.

Photo credit: DC Business Journal