Opening Keynote Session – Defining Credit Risk in the Loan Programs Office: Challenges and Approaches

The Loan Programs Office (LPO) of the U.S. Department of Energy has credit programs available to help deploy innovative clean energy, advanced transportation, and tribal energy projects in the United States. Over the past decade, LPO has closed more than $30 billion of deals across a variety of energy sectors. In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act greatly increased LPO’s lending authority to over $300 billion. With a mandate to fund qualified projects that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accelerate innovation, and fill gaps in available private sector funding sources, how does LPO manage credit risk and ensure that its lending authority is properly managed, both in deployment and in managing its existing portfolio?