When Peter Davidson was hired as executive director of the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office two years ago, his was not an enviable position.
The controversial program had been operating without a full-time director for more than a year, had made no financial commitments in some two years, and was still reeling from the fallout of a major fiasco: the bankruptcy of one of its major clients, the solar-panel maker Solyndra.
Now, Davidson, who resigned in June to return home to New York, is claiming success for a controversial loan program that supports technologies with the potential to transform the ways we use and produce energy, but with risks that can scare off commercial lenders. (Read more)