PVTIME – The US Department of Energy is rescinding and revising up to $83 billion worth of clean energy loans, with the aim of redirecting its resources towards fossil fuel and nuclear energy projects. Last week, it announced plans to cancel $30 billion of these loans and amend a further $53 billion that was approved by the former Loan Programs Office.
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright noted that the Biden administration had rushed to approve hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of clean energy loans in the final months of its term. The department has confirmed that the former Loan Programs Office has been renamed the Energy Dominance Financing Office. This new office will focus on six core areas, including nuclear energy, fossil fuels, grid infrastructure, and critical minerals. Notably absent from the outlined responsibilities in a recent briefing are solar and wind energy.
These changes follow a year-long review of the $104 billion in financing committed during the Biden administration. The department claims that around $85 billion of these loans were approved too quickly after Donald Trump won his second term in the November election.
No details were provided regarding specific projects losing funding or revised loan terms, but the new office has cancelled approximately $9.5 billion in subsidies for intermittent wind and solar projects, redirecting the funds to natural gas and nuclear upgrade projects to make energy more affordable and reliable.
The Energy Dominance Financing Office currently has $289 billion in available loan authority and has approved three loans, including funding to restart a nuclear plant in Pennsylvania and to build a coal and ammonia fertiliser facility in Indiana. Secretary Wright added that the department’s review found that the Biden administration’s loan approvals in the final month exceeded the total from the previous 15 years combined.
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