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DOE Loan Programs Office
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IN THIS ISSUE:
...and more updates below from the U.S. DOE Loan Programs Office!
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 The second quarter of 2023 saw unprecedented progress by LPO in building a “Bridge to Bankabiilty” across clean energy and advanced transportation sectors, particularly in our efforts to help bolster the domestic electric vehicles (EV) supply chain and scale up EV manufacturing in the U.S. Since May 2023, LPO has conditionally committed a cumulative of over $10.4 billion in Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loans to BlueOval SK, CelLink, and KORE Power. If these loans are finalized, they will onshore and reshore technologies that are critical to growing America's clean energy and advanced vehicles and components manufacturing base and reaching the administration’s climate objectives, while protecting taxpayer resources and our national security.
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Earlier this month I visited Stanton, Tennessee, with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Deputy Secretary David Turk and representatives from BlueOval SK (BOSK) to meet with local leaders and tour one of the BOSK manufacturing facility construction sites. Together, the project’s three battery manufacturing plants are expected to create a total of approximately 5,000 constructions jobs in Tennessee and Kentucky, and 7,500 operations jobs once the plants are operational.
Title 17 Guidance & Interim Final Rule
Also during this last quarter, LPO made a major announcement in the form of new guidance for our Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program, which reflects a number of updates resulting from both the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 and last year’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, including adjustments to certain administrative fees for Title 17 loan guarantee applicants. As detailed in our blog, application fees have been eliminated in full, third-party advisor costs are required at due diligence, facility fees at financial close, and maintenance fees annually post-closing.The new Program Guidance also updates project eligibility, application requirements, and evaluation criteria, consolidating several existing solicitations into one easy-to-read document. The printable document, Part I and II application instructions, and additional information are available on the Title 17 homepage, along with the new Title 17 Interim Final Rule, which amended Title 17 regulations to implement changes that expand or modify program authority and to revise for clarity and organization. LPO’s new Title 17 guidance webinar also provides a detailed introduction to the four project categories within the Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program: Innovative Energy Projects, Innovative Supply Chain Projects, State Energy Financing Institution (SEFI)-Supported Projects, and Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) Projects.
Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Carbon Management and Industrial Decarbonization
LPO has also continued to partner with the Office of Technology Transitions, the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, and other DOE offices on the Department-wide Pathways to Commercial Liftoff initiative, designed to help drive public and private-sector engagement that will be critical to an effective clean energy industrial strategy. The Liftoff reports are “living documents” developed through extensive stakeholder engagement and a combination of system-level modeling and project-level financial modeling. They provide the private sector and other industry partners a valuable, engagement-driven resource on how and when certain technologies can reach full-scale deployment. Webinars about the Carbon Management and Industrial Decarbonization Liftoff reports were hosted last quarter, adding to this incredible shared resource for both private and public sector stakeholders. You can sign-up to be notified when new reports and webinars are available at: Liftoff.Energy.gov
Latest Application Activity
And I think it’s safe to say that all of these efforts are paying off, with interest in LPO financing continuing its steady growth across sectors and across the nation. Even with a record-setting $10 billion in conditional commitments being announced last month, the increase in requested financing in June alone nearly made up for those projects exiting the application pipeline, demonstrating sustained applicant interest in LPO financing programs. As of June 30, 2023, LPO had 150 active applications representing a total of $125.8 billion in requested financing for 185 proposed project locations across 45 U.S. states and territories, and I’m excited to keep the momentum going.
Sincerely,
 LPO Director Jigar Shah
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The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) has announced a conditional commitment for a $9.2 billion loan to BlueOval SK LLC for the construction of three manufacturing plants to produce batteries for Ford Motor Company’s future Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles (EVs). Together, the plants, one located in Tennessee and two in Kentucky, will enable more than 120 gigawatt hours of U.S. battery production annually and displace more than 455 million gallons of gasoline per year for the lifetime of the vehicles powered by these batteries.
The project is expected to create a total of approximately 5,000 constructions jobs in Tennessee and Kentucky, and 7,500 operations jobs once the plants are up and running. As with all conditional commitments that LPO offers, it's important to note that the expected DOE loan will only be issued pending the satisfaction of certain conditions, including final legal, contractual, technical, and financial requirements that the conditional commitment specifies.
Read the full BlueOval SK conditional commitment announcement for more details.
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With the recently updated Title 17 Clean Energy Financing program guidance, LPO has been fielding a lot of questions about "SEFI-Supported" projects, including what exactly is a "State Energy Financing Institution (SEFI)" and how can eligible state entities become SEFIs?
In addition to historically offering loans and loan guarantees primarily for innovative technologies, LPO can now also support deployment of commercial clean energy projects if eligible projects are backed by State Energy Financing Institutions (SEFIs). These projects are unique in that the Title 17 innovative technology requirement is waived for projects receiving financial support or credit enhancements from a SEFI. Examples of eligible projects include energy projects on multifamily or commercial portfolios, industrial decarbonization portfolios, affordable consumer financing for residential projects, and virtual power plants (VPPs).
Check out LPO's latest blog entry to learn more, get a full overview of Title 17 SEFI-Supported projects at: Energy.gov/LPO/SEFI, and watch a recent SEFI webinar entitled "Financing Infrastructure and Getting to Scale with DOE’s Loan Programs Office: An Introduction for State Energy Offices" and hosted National Association of State Energy Officials-hosted webinar to learn from LPO leadership and state peers about how LPO’s new authority can benefit your state.
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LPO "Tech Talks" is a blog series that dives deep into the major clean energy and advanced transportation technology sectors that may be eligible for project financing through LPO loan programs.
The latest entry in the series focuses on the solar photovoltaic (PV) supply chain, which is a key part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious goals to decarbonize the power sector by 2035 and the economy by 2050. Michael Reed, LPO’s Director of the Technical and Project Mangement Division, also states that onshoring critical PV component manufacturing will create quality U.S. jobs, build technical expertise and capability, simplify shipping and logistics, and reduce supply chain insecurity, all while helping developers plan for and meet deployment timelines.
Read the full Tech Talk on Solar PV to see how LPO can finance innovative projects across the solar photovoltaic supply chain.
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For this month's LPO Sector Spotlight, Director Jigar Shah examines how LPO is supporting storage projects across the United States. He also states that U.S. energy storage capacity will need to scale rapidly over the next two decades to achieve the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of achieving a net-zero economy by 2050.
As Director Shah explains, LPO can finance both energy storage manufacturing and supply chain projects as well as deployment of a range of storage technologies, including flywheel, mechanical, electrochemical, thermal, and chemical storage technologies. And as of the end of June 2023, requested financing from LPO for energy storage projects via active loan applications totaled nearly $8.0 billion.
Read the full Sector Spotlight on Storage for more insights.
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Recent Events
Financing the Energy Transition: A Policy Leadership Series Event with Jigar Shah • 20 Jun 2023 • Washington, DC
Financing Infrastructure and Getting to Scale with the Department of Energy Loan Programs Office – An Introduction for State Energy Offices • 22 Jun 2023 • Webinar
U.S. Offshore Wind 2023 • 11-12 Jul 2023 • Boston, MA
2023 NARUC Summer Policy Summit • 16-19 Jul 2023 • Austin, TX
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Critical Minerals Summit • 19 Jul 2023 • Washington, DC
Upcoming Events
CCS/Decarbonization Project Development, Finance & Investment Summit • 24-26 Jul 2023 • Houston, TX
2023 Energy Storage Grand Challenge Summit • 25-27 Jul 2023 • Atlanta, GA
California Tribal Leaders’ Clean Energy Summit • 7-9 Aug 2023 Pala, CA
HydrogeNext • 14-17 Aug 2023 • Savannah, GA
Hydrogen Hubs Summit • 28-30 Aug 2023 • Houston, TX
RE+ • 11-14 Sep 2023 • Las Vegas, NV
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