8 utilities split nearly $23B in DOE loan guarantees

By Brian Dabbs, Jason Plautz | 01/16/2025 06:31 AM EST

DOE also awarded up to $500 million for a new aluminum smelter fueled by clean energy.

An AEP transmission field coordinator stands in front of an AEP electrical transmission substation.

Christian Vittorio, an AEP transmission field coordinator, gives a tour of an AEP electrical transmission substation in Westerville, Ohio, in 2015. AEP is one of eight utilities to receive conditional loan guarantees from the Department of Energy. John Minchillo/AP

The Department of Energy on Thursday issued almost $23 billion in conditional loan guarantees to utilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, part of a last-minute blitz by the Biden administration to cement its climate legacy before President-elect Donald Trump takes office Monday.

The eight total guarantees will go to the following utilities or subsidiaries of them: PacificCorp, DTE Energy, Consumers Energy, AEP, Alliant Energy and FirstEnergy. Together, the utilities serve nearly 15 million people, from West Virginia to Oregon.

“The projects financed by these loans will bring online gigawatts of clean generation from sources like wind, solar, and hydropower, as well as increased energy storage capacity,” a DOE official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, told reporters on a call Wednesday.

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The loan guarantees will also cover transmission and substation investments and projects to reduce leaks in natural gas distribution lines. They fall under a DOE authority known as the Title 17 Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment Program, which typically deals with nonvehicle projects and, as of October, had nearly $250 billion in estimated loan authority availability.

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