Wedoany.com Report-Dec 19, California utility Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) has a pretty ambitious wish list this holiday season, but fortunately, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office (LPO) is feeling particularly generous ahead of President-elect Trump retaking office. (Sorry, I couldn’t find a picture of Jigar Shah in a Santa hat for this post.)
Today the LPO announced a conditional commitment for a low-interest loan guarantee of up to $15 billion for PG&E’s Project Polaris, which was submitted to the feds for consideration in June 2023. If finalized, the loan guarantee will support a portfolio of projects to expand hydropower generation and battery storage, upgrade transmission capacity through reconductoring and grid-enhancing technologies, and enable virtual power plants throughout PG&E’s service area. The utility, which serves about 16 million customers in Northern and Central California, says the loan will help it meet forecasted load growth, increase electric reliability, and reduce costs for its rate base.
Today’s announcement is the second Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) project under LPO’s flexible loan facility and disbursement approach tailored for regulated, investment-grade utilities. The first was for the restoration and repowering of the Holtec Palisades nuclear plant, slated to become the first shut-down nuke plant to be recommissioned in the United States.
Electric utility borrowers for EIR projects must demonstrate that the financial benefits received from the DOE loan guarantee will be passed on to the customers of that utility or the communities it serves. LPO borrowers must develop and implement a comprehensive Community Benefits Plan (CBP), which ensures borrowers meaningfully engage with community and labor stakeholders to create good-paying, high-quality jobs and improve the well-being of the local community and workers. In its CBP, PG&E plans to expand its outreach programs to boost engagement and deliver community benefits in partnership with key stakeholders, including local governments, Native American Tribes, community-based organizations, and low-and-middle-income customers. PG&E has committed to locating many projects in disadvantaged communities, as identified by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.
LPO’s holiday spending spree
It’s no secret that the LPO is trying to get as much money as possible out the door before the Trump Administration takes office on January 20. In September, Trump pledged to rescind any unspent funds under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the bipartisan infrastructure law that has pumped billions of dollars into the domestic supply chain and clean energy projects from coast to coast.
“To further defeat inflation, my plan will terminate the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam,” Trump promised.
While it’s understandably easier for the President-elect to reign in unspent funding, he will have a tougher time navigating conditional loan guarantees and virtually no chance of recalling funds that have been distributed. According to the Wall Street Journal, the LPO is expected to extend the loan to PG&E via multiple cash installments spread out over several years, and the funding cannot be withdrawn by subsequent administrations. The LPO has closed on more than a dozen loans so far, totaling more than $13 billion.
The LPO has been especially this month, announcing a flurry of new loan activity. Yesterday, it announced $9.63 billion for BlueOval SK to finance the construction of three electric vehicle (EV) battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky. Last week, DOE closed on a $1.25 billion guarantee with EVgo to expand public fast-charging infrastructure nationwide. The week before that was highlighted by a $303.5 million loan guarantee for Eos Energy Enterprises to support two Pennsylvania-based manufacturing facilities developing long-duration batteries. DOE also inked a conditional commitment of up to $7.54 billion with StarPlus Energy, a joint venture between automaker Stellantis and South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI, that will finance two lithium-ion battery cell and module factories in Indiana. According to an analysis by TechCrunch, automakers and battery manufacturers have attracted more than $112 billion via the IRA to build out domestic facilities.
How much more can DOE’s LPO spend?
The LPO has been granted the authority to distribute hundreds of billions of dollars to innovative clean energy and advanced manufacturing projects.
Through September 2024, the office reported financing nearly $44 billion worth to date. As of the EVgo announcement referenced above, that total was closer to $55 billion. Tacking on the billions for BlueOval SK’s battery plants and the PG&E guarantee brings LPO’s total near $90 billion. And there’s more to come.
Through November 2024, DOE’s LPO reports more than 200 active applications accounting for more than $324 billion in requested funding.
