The federal energy program that’s best-known for a failed loan to solar manufacturer Solyndra LLC is generating billions for the government, and probably won’t be going anywhere under Donald Trump, according to a Bloomberg News commentary. The incoming president can’t unilaterally kill the U.S. Energy Department’s loan programs office. Only Congress can do that, according to the commentary, and it would require new legislation. Not only has the program’s loan portfolio generated about $1.65 billion in interest payments to date, its mission to support major energy projects fits into Trump’s goal of stimulating investment in the U.S., said Jonathan Silver, a former head of the loan programs office. The office dates to the George W. Bush administration and was designed to offer loan guarantees to innovative energy projects that struggle to get financing from commercial and investment banks. Still, the 2011 bankruptcy of Solyndra, which got a $535 million guarantee, remains its best-known miss.
