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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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To show how its investments deliver tangible benefits to communities across the country, LPO has published borrower comprehensive Community Benefits Plans (CBPs) for several projects that have reached financial close in FY2024. The CBPs from these projects demonstrate how borrowers are making positive impacts in communities across the United States.
The initial set of published CBPs includes those for the CelLink, Viejas Microgrid, and Holtec Palisades projects, which together are supporting over 400 construction jobs and over 2,800 operations and maintenance jobs. DOE requires CBPs for nearly all Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding opportunities and loan applications. Read the full announcement and see the LPO Community Benefits Plans page at Energy.gov/LPO/CBP to read these plans and learn more.
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On October 28, DOE and LPO announced the closing of a $2.26 billion loan to help finance the construction of facilities for processing lithium at Thacker Pass in Humboldt County, Nevada. The facilities are expected to produce approximately 40,000 tonnes per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate once fully operational, helping the U.S. establish a domestic supply chain for a critical component in electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
Demand for lithium carbonate is expected to rise significantly with EV adoption, which has already seen unprecedented progress under President Biden and Vice President Harris. Lithium carbonate from Thacker Pass could support the production of batteries for up to 800,000 EVs annually, avoiding the consumption of 317 million gallons of gasoline per year. This project is a major step toward meeting the Administration’s goal that half of all cars sold in 2030 be zero-emission vehicles.
Read the full Thacker Pass loan closing announcement and see the Thacker Pass LPO project page for more details.
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On October 23, LPO announced a $162.4 million loan guarantee for a multi-state, real-time methane emissions monitoring network being fabricated and deployed by LongPath Technologies, Inc. The announcement supports the infrastructure buildout for an emissions detection, location, and quantification subscription service for tens of thousands of oil and gas extraction sites in every major U.S. oil and gas production region. Using tower-mounted, eye-safe lasers to accurately identify molecules including methane, the system can notify operators in the event of even the smallest leaks to facilitate a rapid response, reducing needless emissions and generating savings across the value chain.
Emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas up to 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide, occur across the oil and gas sector. Leaks during oil and gas production and compression—which are difficult to identify across vast production areas—are a major source of U.S. methane emissions. The network is expected to prevent methane emissions equivalent to at least six million tons of carbon dioxide annually—comparable to taking 1.3 million gasoline powered vehicles off the road—by enabling subscribers to identify and respond to methane leaks quickly.
Read the full LongPath loan closing announcement and see the LongPath LongPath LPO project page for more details.
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On October 16, LPO announced two conditional commitments for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production—one for a $1.46 billion loan guarantee to Gevo Net-Zero 1 for a new facility in Lake Preston, South Dakota that uses corn starch and the other for a $1.44 billion guarantee to Montana Renewables for expansion of an existing facility in Great Falls, Montana that utilizes vegetable oils, fats, and grease. Both facilities will produce sustainable aviation fuel, renewable diesel, and renewable naphtha. SAF is the only viable near-term option to decarbonize the airline industry, which is responsible for 3.3% of total U.S. emissions.
On November 13, DOE followed these announcements with release of the latest report from its Pathways to Commercial Liftoff intiative—facilitated by the DOE Office of Technology Transitions—this time on SAF. The Pathways to Commercial Liftoff Report: Sustainable Aviation Fuel report analyzes the technical and commercial readiness of several SAF production pathways and highlights tangible, actionable steps that the U.S. can take to become a global leader in SAF production as soon as 2030.
Read the full Gevo Net-Zero 1 and Montana Renewables announcements for more details about these conditional commitments, and to learn more about the SAF Liftoff report, see its full announcement, explore the its Liftoff summary page, download the full report, and watch the SAF report webinar with LPO Director Jigar Shah and other DOE leaders discussing the report.
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In October 2024, LPO announced a conditional commitment to Aspen Aerogels Georgia, LLC to help finance the construction of facility in a Register, Georgia to manufacture a protective layer it calls PyroThin® for use in EV batteries. PyroThin® aerogel thermal barriers are ultra-thin and lightweight, designed to slow or prevent rare events in which a battery cell overheats and triggers neighboring cells. Aspen currently fills orders for contracted offtakers at its existing manufacturing plant in Rhode Island and looks to build new capacity as expected demand for the product increases.
Aerogel thermal barriers offer a combination of thermal management, mechanical performance, and fire protection properties, helping EV battery manufacturers reach their safety goals without sacrificing battery performance. In the event a battery cell fails, the layer protects neighboring cells from being thermally triggered to avoid a significant fire. Demand for aerogel thermal barriers is expected to increase significantly in both the United States and Europe as more stringent thermal mitigation and prevention standards are implemented.
Read the full Aspen Aerogels conditional commitment announcement for more details.
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LPO's latest Monthly Application Activity Report (MAAR) tracks key metrics for active applications across 14 LPO major technology sectors and proposed project locations across the United States through October 31, 2024.
Also featured in the MAAR is LPO's latest estimated remaining loan authority for its financing programs, also as of October 31, 2024.
As we enter Fiscal Year 2025, LPO has updated reporting on loan and loan guarantee authority available under the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) program based on project activity, applicant interest to date, and anticipated applications. Along with these changes, LPO now expects to report on estimated remaining loan authority and loan guarantee authority annually at the Federal Fiscal Year (October 1) instead of monthly. Please see the full blog post about these updates for more information.
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The Energy Act of 2020 and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 directed LPO to engage in outreach activities through conferences and online programs to disseminate information about its programs. Below is an overview of major upcoming events. See LPO's full events calendar at: Energy.gov/LPO/Events to browse events where LPO staff and leadership will be in attendance.
Recent Events
Americas Finance Meeting • 6-7 Nov 2024 • Houston, TX
NARUC Annual Meeting & Education Conference 10-13 Nov 2024 • Anaheim, CA
Ammonia Energy Conference • 11-13 Nov 2024 • New Orleans, LA
IBEW Nuclear Conference • 12 Nov 2024 • Chicago, IL
Benchmark Week 12-13 Nov 2024 • Los Angeles, CA
International Workboat Show • 12-14 Nov 2024 • New Orleans, LA
Resource Development Council Alaska Event • 14-15 Nov 2024 • Anchorage, AK
4th Annual 2024 AFCC Global Biobased Economy Conference & Exhibit • 20-22 Nov 2024 • Washington, DC
Major Upcoming Events
Deploy24 • 4-5 Dec 2024 • Washington, D.C.
Power Up: Tribal Energy Symposium • 9 Dec 2024 • Parker, AZ
Demonstrate Deploy Decarbonize 2024 (#Deploy24) • 4-5 Dec 2024 • Washington, DC
Join us this December 4-5 for Deploy24 – this year’s “can’t miss” event for clean energy deployment and investment that will bring together decision-makers from the private sector, government, and clean energy leaders from across the country.
Together, we will make a plan for how we can continue to effectively and equitably put federal and private sector investments to work, strengthen our energy system, and secure our clean energy future.
December 4-5, 2024 • Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C.
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