The U.S. government has spent more than $1 billion on private-sector renewable energy projects from the massive economic stimulus program enacted seven months ago, officials said Tuesday. At a meeting of a group of clean-energy developers and manufacturers at the White House on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced $550 million in new awards. The awards for 25 projects brings the total to more than $1 billion awarded so far “to companies committed to investing in domestic renewable energy production,” the Treasury and Energy Departments said in a joint statement. The $1 billion figure is a fraction of the $787 billion stimulus package, which includes both tax cuts and infrastructure spending aimed at limiting the effects of the worst recession since the 1930s.
