§53731 Commercial Demonstration Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Facilities and Plantships

Summary

The Administrator can guarantee loans to build, rebuild, or fix up commercial ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) demonstration plants or plantships. Guarantees can cover up to 5 facilities or a total of 400 megawatts, whichever happens first. These guarantees follow the same general rules as other program guarantees. Any part of a project that is not paid with federal appropriations must meet the usual test that it is economically sound. A guarantee cannot be made unless the Secretary of Energy, after talking with the Administrator, certifies there is enough assurance of performance and payment to keep the U.S. government’s risk at a reasonable level. In deciding, the Secretary must look at whether the technology has been shown to work at a useful scale and at the national need and benefits of the project. The guaranteed amount can be no more than 87.5% of the actual or depreciated cost (or of the financed portion when federal funds support the project). There is a special OTEC Demonstration Fund inside the program account to handle these guarantees. Money related to these guarantees must go into that fund, and any debt issued for the fund must be paid only from the fund’s proceeds. The main account is not responsible for these guarantees. At any time, the unpaid principal guaranteed with the OTEC Fund’s backing may not exceed $1,650,000,000. Interest on a guaranteed obligation is taxable income.