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A second clean energy company that received a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy has filed for bankruptcy. According to their website, Beacon Power received $43 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. The company was working on a new technology that would allow the nation’s electricity grid to store energy by constructing what, on the company’s website, they call “a state of the art energy storage facility in Stephentown, New York”.

The company also received $26 million in stimulus grants from the Department of Energy.

A White House official says Beacon’s finances protections will be part of the outside review of all the administration's clean energy loan guarantees, which was ordered by White House Chief of Staff on Friday.

In a statement Damien LaVera, a spokesman for the Department of Energy, says “Protecting taxpayer dollars remains the top priority for Secretary Chu and the Department, which is why we were careful to include many protections for the taxpayer in the loan guarantee for the Stephentown project.” He goes on to explain taxpayers are protected because the company’s Stephentown plant was used as collateral for the loan and the plant is still operating, the US is first in line to be paid back, and the loan was made to that plant not to the parent company which filed for bankruptcy. Additionally $4 million of the $43 million loan has not been used. LaVera says “the loan was set up in a way that ensures the Department is not directly exposed to the liabilities of the parent company” and it’s the parent company that filed for bankruptcy.”

Republicans were quick to react.

Representative Cliff Stearns, House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee chairman, which is investigating the Solyndra loan, issued a statement saying, “This latest failure is a sharp reminder that DOE has fallen well short of delivering the stimulus jobs that were promised, and now taxpayers find themselves millions of more dollars in the hole. Unfortunately for the American taxpayers, I am deeply concerned that other DOE programs could follow which goes to the heart of the President's flawed economic program."

In a statement Senator Jeff Sessions, Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, said, “The revelation that another corporation receiving a loan from the Obama administration has filed for bankruptcy is further evidence of the reckless abuse of taxpayers’ dollars in the pursuit of green jobs. Increasingly, we are moving away from our capitalist heritage and towards a system where most Americans play by the rules while some are able to rig the game in their favor. The real divide is not split along income lines, but between the politically-connected and those—whether businesses or individuals—who just want the freedom to earn a living.”

An administration official argues this is different from Solyndra. When Solyndra went bankrupt it closed up shop but Beacon’s Stephentown plant continues to operate. This official adds the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is an independent agency, approved a rule that could provide an economic incentive for the use of flywheel and battery systems.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, since President Obama took office, Beacon Power spent a total of $200,000 on lobbying efforts.