Energy Department to revise or cancel more than $83 billion in clean-energy loans

The Energy Department said on Thursday that it is revising or canceling more than $83 billion in loans for clean energy technologies that were approved under the Biden administration, the agency’s loan programs office said. Under the Biden administration the office finalized or issued conditional commitments for roughly $104 billion in lending.

Since a review ordered by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the department said more than $29.9 billion of those loans have been canceled or are being scrapped, while roughly $53.6 billion appear to be moving forward with revisions, though the agency did not provide further details. The department declined to provide a full list of affected projects, and many of the cancellations were previously announced.

Examples cited in the agency’s recent actions include the withdrawal last May of a $2.92 billion partial loan guarantee to Sunnova Energy (the company filed for bankruptcy the following month), the July cancellation of a $4.9 billion loan guarantee for the Grain Belt Express transmission line, and Plug Power’s suspension of work related to a $1.66 billion federal loan guarantee.

Other previously announced cancellations include KORE Power, Redwood Materials and Aspen Aerogels. The Trump administration has reshaped the loan office into the Office of Energy Dominance Financing and sought to direct financing toward technologies it favors, including natural gas and nuclear power.

Key Topics

Politics, Chris Wright, Sunnova Energy, Grain Belt Express, Plug Power, Loan Guarantees