Latest news with #LoanProgramsOffice
E&E News
22-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Chris Wright tells Republicans to keep loan office funding
Energy Secretary Chris Wright took a stand for the Loan Programs Office during a Wednesday Hill budget hearing, specifically telling lawmakers they should be very careful in cutting the department's 'most effective tool' in aiding emerging low-emissions energy technologies. At the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee hearing on the Department of Energy's budget request, Wright appeared to advocate against House Republicans' proposal to cut all unobligated Inflation Reduction Act funding to the loan office as part of their party-line budget reconciliation effort. 'It is really the most efficient tool we have in the department to help emerging energy technologies,' Wright said. 'I know [the reconciliation bill] comes to the Senate next. I'm making a plea: Don't enact the budget we send, enact the budget you know we need.' Advertisement Wright was particularly bullish on the LPO's potential effect on nuclear energy. Next-generation reactors have struggled to prove that they can be an economic source of energy, and industry watchers widely agree federal funding will be critical to them meeting that goal.
E&E News
16-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
DOE to name new loan program director
The Department of Energy is preparing to name Greg Beard, a former energy investor and bitcoin operator, as the new head of the embattled Loan Programs Office, according to internal documents circulating at DOE and viewed by POLITICO's E&E News. Beard joined DOE in recent weeks as a political appointee. He stopped serving as CEO of Stronghold Digital Mining in March, according to his LinkedIn profile. The company produced bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, by burning waste coal in Pennsylvania before being sold to Bitfarms. Earlier in his career, Beard invested in energy projects at Apollo Global Management. Advertisement The internal documents discuss the departure of current director Lane Genatowski, referencing his 'goodbye messaging.' Genatowski, a DOE veteran, took the helm of the LPO less than two months ago. If appointed, Beard would be the third LPO director since President Donald Trump's inauguration.
New York Times
23-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
The World Seems to Be Surrendering to Climate Change
The scope of President Trump's assault on the country's climate ambitions, over just three months, is not just enraging but also perversely awe inspiring. In the run-up to the November election, conventional analysis suggested that a Trump victory would mean an additional four billion tons of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere by 2030, a total surrender on the climate pledges the country had made under the Paris Agreement and the functional end of the global goals that agreement established among nearly all the world's nations. But in many ways, on climate as on other fronts, the administration has been worse than was feared — taking an ax to the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, pressuring foreign countries to increase their consumption of American liquefied natural gas as part of the administration's trade war and casting the whole future of President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act in doubt. As Matthew Zeitlin wrote in Heatmap last week, an end to subsidies for green energy under the act could strip solar power of its cost advantage over natural gas, and the Trump administration has tried to block states from pursuing climate goals on their own. It has been haphazardly sabotaging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service, presumably for the sin of working on climate-related assessments, and canceling so much research funding that public agencies and university programs alike are feeling they're in free fall. During his first administration, Trump loved to talk about tree planting as an alternative climate solution; in this term, he's canceling those programs, too. The Biden administration sometimes boasted about its whole-of-government response to climate change; this is a whole-of-government counteroffensive. But the story of retreat from climate politics is larger than Trump or his desire to make America more of a petrostate and is more worryingly global than merely MAGA. Just a few years ago, worldwide climate concern seemed to be reaching new peaks almost monthly, with cultural momentum growing and policy commitments following. Then came Covid, inflation and higher interest rates, which made the cost of living and global debt crises worse — and above all, perhaps, a new accommodation to the brutal realities of climate change that some call pragmatism and some normalization. Surveys still show widespread climate concern; in a poll covering 130,000 people in 125 countries, 89 percent of respondents said they wanted stronger action. But at the highest levels of discourse and policy debate, just a few years since the Inflation Reduction Act and Boris Johnson declaring, 'It's one minute to midnight on that Doomsday Clock,' the tide is going out on climate alarm. In truth, it has been for a while. In Europe, leaders have spent the years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine reckoning with the energy crisis that it produced and, in part, rethinking the commitments of the continent's landmark Green Deal. In Britain officials are debating dropping legally binding commitments to reach net-zero carbon emissions. In Mexico its climate scientist president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is building fossil-fuel infrastructure, and in Canada the new prime minister, Mark Carney, chose as his first official act the repeal of the country's landmark carbon tax. None of these moves are back breakers for climate action, and some may even be defensible to climate campaigners on the basis of political necessity. But tellingly, each would have been very hard to imagine five years ago. From 2019 to 2021, governments around the world added more than 300 climate adaptation and mitigation policies each year. In 2023 the figure was under 200. In 2024 it was under 50. Carney is a former central banker who's spent years rallying the financial world in support of climate goals, as part of what is called the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. In the year after it was announced in 2021, the alliance's industry-led banking arm added nearly 100 signatories. Over the past year, the group has added fewer than 10 members, and since December, it has lost BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. The S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index has been in steady decline, the energy analyst Nat Bullard recently noted, with its value falling by more than half since 2021. This month a symposium sponsored by the People's Forum in New York raised the prospect that just a few years past its much-ballyhooed heyday, we had already reached the end of green capitalism. Perhaps the phrase was always an alibi for business as usual, an opportunity for the profit-minded to surf the zeitgeist and lay claim to ecological beneficence. But even so, there has been an undeniable change. When Bloomberg recently analyzed earnings calls of S&P 500 companies going back to 2020, it found that the companies talked about the environment in the first quarter of 2025, on average, 76 percent less than they did three years ago. And when financiers do talk about it, the tone is very different. Five years ago, the chatter was about the business opportunity of a successful transition; these days, as Kate Aronoff wrote recently in The New Republic, it is much more likely to emphasize the opportunities of a hotter world (booming demand for air-conditioning, for instance). A recent report from Morgan Stanley declared that the goals of keeping warming within the limits that more than 190 nations adopted a decade ago in Paris are now well out of reach, thanks to 'recent setbacks to global decarbonization efforts': Populism, inflation, energy prices and the cost of living crisis and interest rates and the cost of financing anything, let alone something with a relatively low rate of return. Other reports from JPMorgan Chase and the Institute of International Finance reached the same conclusion. What is perhaps most shocking about this is that, as I've written, these very same probable outcomes were what gave rise to the wave of climate alarm that seemed to so profoundly improve our climate prospects just a few years ago. In the aftermath of the Paris Agreement and thanks to the work of scientists working to clarify the stakes of honoring it, we got a glimpse of a world 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than preindustrial levels and were, collectively, terrified into action by what we saw. In the years since, we've watched warming accelerate and many of those premonitions become real in the form of once unimaginable disasters. But for many, the terror has subsided, giving way to a sort of heavy acquiescence. Last week the writer and activist Bill McKibben titled a reflection on the subject 'A Chill Falls on the Climate Community' — he's trying to reignite the flame with a major action toward the end of this summer — and last month Bill Gates's climate initiative, Breakthrough Energy, closed its policy and advocacy office and laid off much of its staff in Washington, suggesting that there was little to agitate for when it comes to climate in today's D.C. There, earlier this month the Council on Foreign Relations began a Climate Realism initiative — offering among its guiding principles that the world should give up on its cherished goals of limiting warming to 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius and instead prepare for a far more punishing 3 degrees or more. To some in the audience, it seemed like a declaration of indifference masquerading as pragmatism. 'Even if we stop clinging to 1.5,' the Carnegie Endowment's Noah Gordon asked plaintively, 'must we concede 3?' Consider this as a moral challenge, and the answer must be 'no.' As a matter of carbon math, though, the problem looks harder to solve. These days, when reckoning with the loss of cultural momentum, climate advocates will often point to green records set each year — worldwide annual solar power installations having more than doubled since 2021, annual global investment in the energy transition doubling to $2 trillion in just three years, renewables producing 92.5 percent of added worldwide power capacity last year. And although a staggering share of that global progress is taking place in China, in the United States the progress can be similarly breathtaking: wind capacity up 23-fold in two decades, according to a new analysis in Vox, utility-scale battery capacity up 29-fold in just five years and more U.S. electricity generated by renewables than fossil fuels last year, for the very first time. Climate optimists look at all that and say, whatever the politics, economics has made the energy transition unstoppable. In the long run, over generations, that still seems like a safe bet to me. But it's in the short run, just decades, that the pathways to what we once identified as relatively livable futures will be made or broken. And there I find myself wondering: How unstoppable is the transition, really? I'll write more about that in the coming weeks.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Administration Backs $1.52B Loan for Palisades Nuclear Restart
The Trump administration has released a second loan disbursement of $56.8 million to Holtec International as part of an up to $1.52 billion loan guarantee for the restart of the 800-MW Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan. The funding, a key step in reviving the shuttered facility, reinforces a loan guarantee initially issued under the Biden administration—and marks the first publicly announced loan guarantee action under the Trump administration. Under the Biden administration, the Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) finalized the loan guarantee in September 2024. The $1.52 billion guarantee was the first issued under the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) program's Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Section 1706, which Congress approved as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The Biden administration intended loan funding to be used to bolster inspections, testing, restoration, rebuilding, and replacement of existing equipment at Palisades, which was retired by its previous owner, Entergy, in May 2022. Holtec, which bought the plant from Entergy in June 2022, received its first disbursement of $38 million in January after securing financing through the DOE's Loan Programs Office (LPO). The company is targeting the commercial nuclear plant's recommissioning by the end of 2025, though that schedule will depend on Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approvals. When reopened, the upgraded Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactor (PWR) could produce baseload power until 2051 as part of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator's (MISO) resource mix. 'Unleashing American energy dominance will require leveraging all energy sources that are affordable, reliable and secure—including nuclear energy,' said Energy Secretary Chris Wright on March 17. 'Today's action is yet another step toward advancing President Trump's commitment to increase domestic energy production, bolster our security and lower costs for the American people.' [caption id="attachment_230939" align="alignnone" width="1024"] In September 2024, the Department of Energy finalized a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to Holtec Palisades LLC to support the restoration and recommissioning of the 800-MW Palisades Nuclear Plant in Covert Township, Michigan. Originally shut down in May 2022, the plant is set to return to service and operate until at least 2051, pending U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approvals. It could mark the first-ever recommissioning of a retired nuclear power plant in U.S. history. Source: DOE[/caption] The Trump administration's decision to move forward with the Palisades loan guarantee is particularly notable given its broader efforts to freeze or reevaluate federal financial assistance programs initiated under the previous administration. In late January, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a directive temporarily pausing all federal grant, loan, and financial assistance programs—an action that was quickly challenged in court and later rescinded by the OMB on Jan. 29. Despite the rescission, the White House has indicated the freeze on federal funding would remain in effect, aligning with executive orders that aim to reevaluate and align programs with the administration's priorities. In its final update before leaving office, the Biden administration reported that the DOE's LPO finalized 53 deals totaling $107.57 billion in project investments over four years. This included $60.62 billion in closed loans and $46.95 billion across 28 active conditional commitments, supporting projects in advanced nuclear, grid modernization, energy storage, and domestic manufacturing. Along with finalizing a $1.52 billion loan guarantee for Holtec's Palisades restart, it finalized $15 billion for Pacific Gas & Electric's (PG&E) Project Polaris, a sweeping investment in hydropower, battery storage, transmission upgrades, and virtual power plants across Northern and Central California. Other major deals include $4.9 billion for Grain Belt Express to expand high-voltage transmission, and more than $2 billion to enhance Puerto Rico's energy resilience. Shortly before the Trump administration took office on Jan. 16, LPO announced $22.92 billion in conditional loan commitments to eight utility companies, aiming to modernize energy infrastructure, expand clean power generation, and improve grid reliability. Asked how the agency expected the conditional commitments to fare under the incoming Trump administration, the Biden administration DOE noted that conditional commitments are legally binding agreements that obligate the funds once the conditions are met. On Monday, the Trump administration underscored the rationale for its move to release the second round of disbursement for the Holtec project. 'The project is projected to support or retain up to 600 high-quality jobs in Michigan—many of them filled by workers who had previously been at the plant for over 20 years,' it said. Holtec on Feb. 3, 2025, noted the NRC issued a draft environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for the power plant's recommissioning. The draft EA covers Holtec's requests for an exemption from the 10 CFR 50.82(a)(2) rule, which currently prohibits fuel emplacement and reactor operation, a license transfer from Holtec Decommissioning International to Palisades Energy LLC, and four License Amendment Requests (LARs) needed to resume power generation. Holtec is meanwhile making headway on major technical and maintenance efforts to prepare the plant for its targeted restart in late 2025. Ongoing work includes primary coolant system dose reduction measures and turbine inspections. More than 560 full-time nuclear professionals and hundreds of specialty contractors are engaged in work on site, it reports. Holtec International President Kelly Trice has expressed confidence in meeting the project's schedule, noting that the team remains 'slightly ahead of target' pending final NRC approvals. The company expects that the NRC could issue its final licensing decision by August, which would allow Palisades Energy LLC to place fuel back into the reactor vessel and resume commercial power operations. If the project schedule remains on track, the restart would mark the first-ever recommissioning of a retired U.S. commercial nuclear reactor. [caption id="attachment_230938" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Engineers conduct detailed inspections of Palisades Nuclear Plant's turbine system as part of critical maintenance efforts ahead of its planned recommissioning in late 2025. Courtesy: Holtec International[/caption] Later in February, however, Holtec unveiled "Mission 2030," an initiative to deploy the company's flagship small modular reactors (SMR-300s) at the Palisades site in Covert Township, Michigan. The project envisions co-locating two Holtec SMR-300s with the existing 800-MW Palisades plant. Holtec's SMR-300 is a 300-MW pressurized water reactor (PWR) designed for simplified and efficient operations. The reactor's below-grade placement and gravity-driven cooling eliminate reliance on active safety systems, making it "Walk-Away Safe" in the event of a loss-of-coolant accident, Holtec says. Unlike traditional large reactors, SMR-300 does not require an exclusion zone and features on-site underground used fuel storage, removing the need for immediate spent fuel transport. The design is also geared for rapid deployment and features a 2.5-year construction cycle, the company says. Substantial progress has been made so far in site preparation at Palisades for the SMR project, bolstered by $50 million in investment. Activities so far include detailed site and environmental studies, establishing a groundwater monitoring program, and completing soil borings. Holtec said the project remains on schedule to begin the formal U.S. NRC construction permitting process early next year. In addition, the company said it has engaged in extensive public and government outreach and received strong support from community leaders and government stakeholders. The launch of "Mission 2030" in February was notably accompanied by the signing of an expanded cooperation agreement with Hyundai Engineering & Construction (Hyundai E&C) to build a 10-GW fleet of SMR-300s in North America through the 2030s, starting with the Palisades project. [caption id="attachment_230941" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Concept design for Holtec International's SMR-300 small modular reactor. Source: Holtec/DOE[/caption] 'Hyundai E&C has the most distinguished credentials as a constructor of nuclear power plants, having built and commissioned the largest reactor complex in the last decade in the UAE on schedule, which is a rare achievement in our industry,' said Holtec's CEO Dr. Kris Singh. 'Our own vertically integrated supply capability and a world-class project management organization, which has established a solid track record of completing numerous complex projects around the world without cost overruns, gives us the confidence that our 'Mission 2030' will be realized in full measure. We should also recognize our long-term ally and the third pillar of our SMR coalition, Mitsubishi Electric [Kobe, Japan, and Pittsburgh, U.S.] whose state-of-the-art control system will be deployed in the SMR-300 plants.' —Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US green-lights massive project set to transform the aviation industry — here's what you need to know
In February, the Trump administration surprised many by finalizing a sustainable fuel deal initially put into place by the Biden administration, expanding green fuel production in the U.S., Reuters reported. The loan, disbursed by the Loan Programs Office under the Inflation Reduction Act, would allow manufacturer Calumet to expand a sustainable aviation fuel refinery in Montana. Currently, the facility produces 140 million gallons per year of biofuels; the expansion would more than double production to 315 million gallons and generate 500 jobs. Biofuels have been in development for decades but have recently come to the fore as an alternative to dirty fossil fuels used in the aviation industry. Biofuels are made from plant and animal material, which is often waste from food production, and making and using these fuels generates less heat-trapping air pollution than collecting and using the same amount of fossil fuels. Which of these factors would most effectively motivate you to buy an induction stove? Healthier indoor air Superior cooking results Helping the planet I wouldn't buy an induction stove Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Unlike making aircraft electric — which requires extensive modifications to the equipment — biofuel can be used in the same engines as traditional fuel. That makes it an easy change to make immediately. That's good news for the planet because excess heat-trapping gases from air pollution are overheating the Earth. That causes damage to the environment and crops and leads to dangerous natural disasters. Much of that air pollution comes from the aviation industry — 2.5% of global heat-trapping gas emissions in 2023, per the International Energy Agency. Reducing that pollution is one of the necessary steps in getting the world's temperature in check. While this is good news, this isn't the last word on the subject. An energy department spokesperson told Reuters that the department "is continuing to conduct a department-wide review of all funding, including grants and loans, to ensure all activities are consistent with the law and in accordance with President Trump's executive orders and priorities." Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
