By Catherine Dodge

Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama’s clean- energy initiatives will help create more than 700,000 jobs and allow the U.S. to double its renewable-power generation in three years, according to a report by Vice President Joe Biden. 

Biden, in a memo on administration efforts to shift to a clean-energy economy, said projects in the $787 billion economic stimulus package are contributing to “unprecedented growth” in renewable energy, such as wind and solar, and improving manufacturing for new clean-energy technology.

“The recovery act is not only about rescue and relief, it’s about reinvestment,” Jared Bernstein, Biden’s chief economic adviser, said on a conference call with reporters. He called Biden’s report a “comprehensive assessment” of the administration’s clean-energy efforts.

Government investments in transportation will help spur the development of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, including three new electric-vehicle plants, the first in the U.S., the report said.

The memo said the administration also will provide loan guarantees to two companies for construction of three to four new nuclear reactors “by the end of our first two years in office.”

Investments of $23 billion in renewable generation and advanced energy manufacturing included in the recovery plan will likely create 253,000 jobs and leverage more than $43 billion in additional investment that may support another 469,000 jobs, the Biden report said.

The administration is “solidly on track” to met its goal of saving or creating 3.5 million jobs under the stimulus plan, Bernstein said. The U.S. has lost about 7.2 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last month the stimulus package had generated between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs so far.

The stimulus package approved by Congress and signed by Obama in February included about $80 billion for clean-energy programs designed in part to spur the growth of so-called green jobs. Republicans say the U.S. jobs data are evidence Obama’s stimulus plan is failing to create jobs.

The unemployment rate last month was 10 percent, down from a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October.

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Dodge in Washington at cdodge1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 15, 2009 00:00 EST