The Department of Energy (DOE) seems to be on a loan-approval spree in anticipation of President-Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, and the winners are all companies manufacturing clean energy solutions on U.S. soil.
Mr. Trump has promised to revoke any unspent federal moneys under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, a bipartisan climate law that allocated A huge of sum of money in billions, to building a domestic supply chain for clean energy. The IRA spurred a flurry of private investment as well. Specifically, automakers and battery manufacturers have invested collectively or assured to invest around the sum of $112 billion in building domestic cell and module manufacturing plants for electric vehicles.
The fresh loans come from two DOE loan programs — the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program and the Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program — that the IRA revived and expanded, respectively.
The ATVM program in particular, which went dormant under Trump’s first administration, once gave a much needed $465 million loan to Tesla in 2009, helping to save the EV maker from one of several near-death experiences. More so, it dwindled under Trump’s administration.
A joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution was the first to receive a $2.5 billion loan under the ATVM program in 2022 under Biden’s administration.
A condition of these loans is that the borrowers “meaningfully engage with community and labor stakeholders to create good-paying jobs and improve the well-being of the local community and workers.”
In the past weeks, the DOE approved or conditionally approved four loans totaling roughly $14.7 billion. We’re keeping track of where the Biden administration’s DOE loan money is going. Here are some of the biggest recent recipients.
Eos Energy Enterprises
On December 3, the DOE closed a $303.5 million loan guarantee ($277.5 million of principal and $26 million of capitalized interest) to Eos Energy Enterprises to finance the construction of two production lines that promise to produce enough stationary batteries per year to power the electricity needs of 130,000 homes.
The project is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs
Stellantis and Samsung (StarPlus Energy)
On December 2, the DOE approved a conditional commitment for a loan of up to $7.54 billion ($6.85 billion in principal, $688 in interest) to StarPlus Energy, the joint venture formed by automaker Stellantis and South Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI. If finalized, the loan will finance the two lithium-ion battery cell and module factories that are being built in Kokomo, Indiana.
The project is estimated to create about 3,200 construction jobs and 2,800 operations jobs at the plants. At peak production, the factories are expected to produce 67 GWh of battery capacity, which is enough to power 670,000 vehicles annually.
Sunwealth
Clean energy investment firm Sun wealth on November 25 secured a loan guarantee of up to $289.7 million for its Project Polo. If confirmed, the loan will finance the distribution of up to 1,000 solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage systems to commercial and industrial facilities through 27 states.
Project Polo is projected to create 3,700 jobs, including 1,900 solar and storage installation jobs and 1,700 operations and maintenance jobs.
Rivian
On November 25th, Rivian secured a provisional commitment for a $6.6 billion loan to help it resume construction on its massive EV factory in Georgia. Rivian expects to begin operations at the factory in 2028, and by 2030 it will employ about 7,500 persons.
