The Department of Energy has restored a $57.7 million grant for a proposed lithium refinery in Nevada, according to the project’s developer.
DOE canceled the grant last fall as part of a wider round of cuts to Biden-era clean energy programs. But the department reinstated the funding after the American Battery Technology Co. appealed via DOE’s internal appeal process.
CEO Ryan Melsert said the company pitched the project’s strategic importance to department officials, arguing that the planned facility is one of few in the U.S. poised to make battery-grade lithium.
“I think when the light was really shown on it, and a handful of projects went into this type of dispute resolution, the ones that really were able to demonstrate that they had strategic benefit to the U.S. are now being reversed and being reinstated,” he said in an interview.
