A White House-commissioned review of the Department of Energy's embattled loan program will be the subject of a Senate hearing this week as the congressional spotlight on Solyndra shifts to the Democratic-controlled side of Capitol Hill for the first time since the bankrupt California solar energy company became a household name.

The hearing will feature the report's author, former Treasury official Herb Allison, along with Energy Secretary Steven Chu. It comes nearly 13 months after House Republicans opened their investigation into Solyndra, which received more than half a billion dollars in federal loan guarantees before it went under.

Allison's report was commissioned during the height of the Solyndra scandal last year as the White House sought a way to take control of the expanding controversy. And though the report only analyzed the status of DOE loans to companies that had not gone bankrupt, it's a good bet that Solyndra will be a major topic of conversation at this week's hearing.

Still, the timing of the hearing could be opportune for Chu.

While the mere mention of Solyndra and the Obama campaign donors who invested in the company still riles Republicans, the scandal has faded from the public limelight since the end of last year.

The ongoing House Energy and Commerce Committee investigation has settled into a seemingly endless battle with the White House over document productions, and a "smoking gun" that links Obama directly to the decision to give Solyndra its loan has still not emerged.

Meanwhile, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), who is leading the House investigation, has suddenly found himself dealing with his own ethics issues after a Florida clerk of court accused the congressman of offering him bribes so that he would bow out of the GOP primary in the newly formed congressional district they are both running in.

Stearns has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the allegations as unfounded, but the accusations are certainly a distraction for the 12-term congressman and his investigation. Late last week, the left-leaning Checks & Balances Project, a watchdog group for industry and political rhetoric, called for Stearns to step down from his post on the House Oversight and Investigations Committee.

DOE also got some good news earlier this month about another DOE loan guarantee recipient that had fallen into bankruptcy. The energy storage company Beacon Power was sold to Houston-based Rockland Capital in a deal that allows DOE to recoup more than 70 percent of its $39 million investment. The sale also keeps Beacon from laying off employees on a project that Republicans had already written off as another Solyndra-like bust.

"Rockland's commitment to this project highlights the need to continue to make investments in innovative, commercially viable projects that can help America compete for the clean energy jobs of tomorrow," DOE spokesman Damien LaVera said last week.

Meanwhile, the White House has sought to stay on the offensive when it comes to clean energy investments, painting the debate as a choice between funding oil billionaires or the energy of the future.

"I want this Congress to stop the giveaways to an oil industry that's never been more profitable, and invest in a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising," President Obama said in his weekly address this weekend. "We need an all-of-the-above strategy that relies less on foreign oil and more on American-made energy -- solar, wind, natural gas, biofuels, and more."

Allison's report, which was released Feb. 10, offered suggestions for how DOE can improve its efforts to monitor the loan program and stay on top of its existing portfolio to ensure that other loans do not go the way of Solyndra.

Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) has called the report a "careful and thoughtful analysis of the DOE's loan programs, with some useful recommendations for managing the program going forward."

Bingaman and panel ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have both said that they consider DOE's loan program a valuable tool for the federal government but that they believe Congress has a role in ensuring the program works as it was intended.

Schedule: The hearing is Tuesday, March 13, at 10 a.m. in 366 Dirksen.

Witnesses: Former Assistant Treasury Secretary Herb Allison and Energy Secretary Steven Chu.