Huge California solar project gets tentative OK for $1.4 billion in US loan guarantees

Big Calif. solar project gets tentative OK from US

LOS ANGELES — The Obama administration has given preliminary approval for $1.4 billion in loan guarantees for a massive solar-energy project in California’s Mojave Desert.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Monday that BrightSource Energy was in line for the financing help to build solar-energy plants to power 140,000 homes.

The federal agency will consider the project’s likelihood of being completed and the Oakland-based company’s ability to repay loans before making a final decision.

Environmentalists want the complex relocated because they say it will harm protected desert tortoises. BrightSource has made design changes in an attempt to alleviate environmental concerns.