On Aug. 26, the Department of Energy (DOE) finalized a $852 million partial loan guarantee for NextEra Energy Resources, LLC’s 250-megawatt Genesis Solar Project. The approval comes as the sunset for the popular 1705 loan guarantee program approaches at the end of September.

The Genesis project is a concentrated solar power (CSP) facility using parabolic trough technology. The project, on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Riverside County, Calif., will expand the amount of installed CSP in the U.S. by about 50 percent, according to the DOE. Construction on the project already is underway, said a DOE official speaking on background.

The project is being financed by Credit Suisse AG, which applied for the loan guarantee under the DOE’s Financial Institution Partnership Program. Under the program, DOE’s loan guarantee supports up to 80 percent of the loan’s costs.

“This project creates jobs, avoids greenhouse gas emissions and helps strengthen our nation’s renewable energy future,” said DOE Secretary Steven Chu in a press release. The Genesis project is expected to create 800 construction jobs and 47 permanent positions.

The 1705 Loan-Guarantee Program has helped many of the large-scale solar projects that are now starting construction in the U.S. Southwest.

For instance, NRG Solar’s 290-megawatt Agua Caliente Solar Project in Yuma, Ariz., got access to lower interest-rate loans because of DOE’s $976 million loan guarantee. And the program granted a $1.6 billion loan guarantee to support BrightSource Energy’s 392-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, which helped it attract investments including a $168 million investment from Google, Inc.

Despite the looming sunset, the DOE may issue additional loan guarantees.

“The Department’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) anticipates finalizing more Section 1705 loan guarantees before the Sept. 30, 2011, expiration date,” the official said. “While the 1705 program sunsets, the Loan Programs Office still actively manages both the 1703 loan guarantee program and the Advanced Vehicle Technology Manufacturing Loan Program. Neither of the programs have expiration dates.”

The loan guarantees and other programs offered by the DOE are helping to spread the adoption of renewable energy.

“These programs help the U.S. to compete in the global market, and strengthen the nation’s clean energy future,” said DOE spokesperson William Gibbons.

While solar companies, including project developers and manufacturers, have heralded the program, it also has its critics, who can now point to a loan guarantee issued to Solyndra, Inc., to support development of a manufacturing facility in California.

The company declared bankruptcy on Aug. 31. But the DOE official said this morning that, to date, no projects have defaulted on their financing.