|
Jump to table of contents
 The third quarter of 2023 was a busy one for LPO and the Department of Energy, and it culminated in an unprecedented announcement: the closing of a $3 billion partial loan guarantee to Sunnova Energy Corporation’s Project Hestia—the single largest commitment ever made by the Federal Government to solar power and LPO’s first loan guarantee for a virtual power plant (VPP). Project Hestia will provide loans for clean energy systems for approximately 75,000 to 115,000 homeowners throughout the United States, including Puerto Rico—benefiting disadvantaged communities facing high energy burdens that would otherwise have difficulty accessing clean energy.
LPO also announced a conditional commitment to Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. for an up to $398.6 million loan guarantee for the construction of up to four state-of-the-art production lines to produce next-generation utility- and industrial-scale zinc-bromine battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania. If finalized, the project is expected to manufacture 8 GWh of storage capacity annually by 2026—enough to provide electricity to over 300,000 average U.S. homes instantaneously or meet the annual electricity needs of approximately 130,000 homes if fully charged and discharged daily.
By increasing energy security; bringing clean energy manufacturing back to America; and creating new, good-paying jobs, these and many other LPO projects are continuing to advance LPO’s mission to accelerate the domestic commercial deployment of innovative and advanced clean energy technologies.
RE+ and Deploy23 Highlight Liftoff Leadership
In September I had the pleasure of speaking at RE+ 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada, including the Master Speaker Session on “How the Solar and Utility Industries Work Together to Brighten the Outlook for VPPs," with Duke Energy Senior Vice President Lon Huber; and the QuickTalks presentation on “The Department of Energy’s Pathway to Commercial Liftoff for Virtual Power Plants,” with LPO Senior Advisor Jen Downing.
The launch of DOE’s new Pathways to Commercial Liftoff for Virtual Power Plants underscores the critical role that VPPs need to play in the nation’s affordable, reliable, and clean energy future. In conjunction with its release, LPO published a new Tech Talk on VPPs, which outlines why VPPs are at an inflection point due to market and technical factors. To learn more, visit LPO’s VPPs tech sector page; and read LPO's Sector Spotlight on VPPs, which highlights why VPPs are essential to smoothing the transition as the U.S. economy rapidly electrifies to meet climate targets, pushing the national grid to new limits with an unprecedented increase in demand.
Also on September 26, Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm kicked off the inaugural Demonstrate Deploy Decarbonize 2023 (Deploy23) conference at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center in Washington, DC. Deploy23 brought together senior leaders in industry and across sectors to build momentum toward demonstrating new clean energy and decarbonization technologies, deploying them at scale, and decarbonizing the U.S. economy.
The conference attracted over 600 participants, with over 90 speakers across nearly 40 sessions, over 30 DOE and U.S. Government programs in attendance; and over than 250 side meetings between public and private sector across two days. Attendees heard keynotes and fireside chats with senior Administration officials, C-suite executives of clean energy and infrastructure companies, thought leaders on key technologies poised for commercial liftoff, and community leaders managing real build-out.
Justice Week 2023
DOE’s “Justice Week 2023: Equity Empowered” is quickly approaching. This five-day, hybrid online and in-person event—taking place Monday, Oct. 30 through Friday, Nov. 3—focuses on advancing equity and environmental justice in the clean energy transition and ensuring climate change investments benefit the communities often left behind. On day four of this event (on Thursday, Nov. 2, at 2:20 p.m. EDT), I’ll deliver a keynote speech entitled "Leveraging Community Benefit Plans to De-Risk Large Capital Projects.” Explore the full agenda and register to join us!
Latest Application Activity
LPO is seeing interest in private sector-led, government-enabled energy project financing like never before. As of September 30, 2023, LPO has 177 active applications requesting approximately $157.1 billion in financing for proposed projects in almost all fifty states, D.C., and Puerto Rico. See LPO's latest Monthly Application Activity Report for more information about the unprecedented interest in all of LPO's clean energy, advanced transportation, tribal energy, and energy infrastructure reinvestment lending programs.
Sincerely,
 LPO Director Jigar Shah
Jump to table of contents
DOE announced it closed a $3 billion partial loan guarantee to Sunnova Energy Corporation’s Project Hestia—the first VPP project supported by LPO. First announced as a conditional commitment for a loan in April 2023, Project Hestia will make distributed energy resources, including rooftop solar, battery storage, and VPP-ready, consumer-facing software, available to more American homeowners and create more than 3,400 good-paying, high-quality American jobs. LPO closed the partial loan guarantee through the Title 17 Innovative Energy Loan Guarantee Program. Just as Title 17 catalyzed the deployment of commercial-scale solar PV in the United States more than a decade ago, the program can accelerate the nascent VPP sector for market acceptance in support of the Biden-Harris administration’s clean energy goals.
For more details, see LPO's Project Hestia portfolio project page, read the project's September 2023 financial close and April 2023 conditional commitment announcements, and find out more about LPO’s Title 17 clean energy financing program.
|
