LPO Updates ? Issue 21 ? August 2024
IN THIS ISSUE:
...and more updates below from the U.S. DOE Loan Programs Office!
LPO Announces Up to $1.45 Billion Conditional Commitment to Qcells to Finance a Solar Manufacturing Facility in Georgia
On August 8th, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment of up to $1.45 billion for a loan guarantee to Qcells, a leading North American crystalline silicon solar manufacturer, to support the production of ingots, wafers, cells, and finished solar panels in Cartersville, Georgia.
The facility will be the largest ingot and wafer plant ever built in the United States and will be the first vertically-integrated factory in the United States in over a decade. Once fully operational, the facility is expected to produce 3.3 GW of solar panels per year, enough to supply panels to half a million American households annually and help to address gaps in the domestic solar manufacturing supply chain. In support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to deliver good-paying, high-quality job opportunities to communities across the country, this project is also expected to create approximately 1,200 construction jobs and, upon completion, will support 1,950 full-time operations jobs.
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 Qcells conditional commitment announcement for more details.
LPO Celebrates Two Years of Progress on the Second Anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)
August 16, 2024 marked the second anniversary of President Biden signing into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA)—the largest climate investment in U.S. history that also expanded LPO's ability to finance clean energy, advanced transportation, tribal energy, and carbon dioxide transportation infrastructure projects across the nation.
Read about the progress that LPO has made over the past year, review the $27 billion in committed project financing that LPO has announced since the IRA's enactment, and learn how this crucial piece of legislation has helped bring the clean energy economy of the future into focus today. The blog includes a downloadable graphic that summarizes LPO's two years of post-IRA deal activity.
Read LPO's full IRA Second Anniversary blog piece for the full review and learn more about all of LPO's conditional commitments and financial closings at Energy.gov/LPO/Projects
DOE Releases Pathways to Commercial Liftoff Topic Brief on Electricity Demand Growth; Register for the Webinar!
Driven by industrial growth, data center expansion, and vehicle electrification, electricity demand is expected to grow ~15-20% in the next decade. As part of a collection of resources addressing challenges of rising demand, the DOE this month released its first Pathways to Commercial Liftoff Topic Brief entitled "How Rising Electricity Demand Can Support Liftoff of Clean Energy Solutions"?summarizing the accompanying opportunities to accelerate commercial deployment at scale for multiple available and emerging energy and grid solutions. When taken together, these solutions could collectively add hundreds of gigawatts of capacity to the grid needed to meet demand needs by the mid-2030s.
Download the topic brief and then be sure to join senior DOE leaders—including LPO Director Jigar Shah—for a free public webinar on Thursday, September 5th at 2:00 EDT as they discuss key takeaways from the brief. Register for the webinar today!?** Please note that pre-registration is required to receive the virtual meeting link.
LPO Sector Spotlight: Advanced Vehicle Components
In this latest installment of LPO’s Sector Spotlight series, Director Jigar Shah looks at how LPO can support the advanced vehicle supply chain beyond battery critical materials. Director Shah looks at how LPO programs like the?Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program?can support expanded domestic assembly of batteries as well as the manufacture of components that enhance vehicle performance.
In this spotlight, Director Shah explains that while many innovations in the EV supply chain are providing incremental performance enhancement with less mass or material, they are not the only vehicle supply chains LPO can support. As markets mature, LPO expects ATVM and other programs to support more medium-duty, heavy-duty, and nonroad supply chains as well as manufacturing infrastructure to support advanced vehicles that use clean fuel alternatives like hydrogen or biomass-derived fuels. The blog piece offers examples from recent LPO announcements to illustrate the wide variety of advanced vehicle project types LPO already supports.
Read the full Sector Spotlight on Advanced Vehicle Components for more insights.
Right-Sizing a Utility Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment Project Application
LPO’s Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) program was created by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to help accelerate the nation’s clean energy transition. EIR provides utilities with attractive, cost-competitive debt financing for portions of utility capital investment plans while reducing costs to customers. EIR can finance a wide range of utility projects, such as but not limited to:
Once a prospective utility applicant has ensured all projects included in an EIR application meet eligibility requirements, they still must make strategic judgements to confirm the scope of their application. In this third in a series of blogs intended to help utilities navigate the EIR loan program, LPO provides prospective utility applicants with initial suggestions to inform scoping EIR loan applications, including when to submit multiple applications and when to combine multiple projects in a single application. Read the full blog for more insights.
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 July 31, 2024.
Also featured in the MAAR is LPO's latest estimated remaining loan authority for our financing programs, also as of July 31, 2024:
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.
Major Upcoming Events
LPO will see you at RE+! Staff will be available at the DOE American Made Program space in the Marriot Marquis (MM1227 + MM1229) on Tuesday, September 10 and Wednesday, September 11:
On September 10, LPO Director Jigar Shah will speak as part of the Master Speaker Series on the critical role of DERs in meeting load growth and moderate a subsequent panel of experts from the utility, technology, and sustainable infrastructure sectors; Lead brief author Louise White will give a Quick Talk on pathways to commercial liftoff for innovative grid deployment; and Senior Advisor Liz Perera will participate on a panel titled "Positive Impact in Clean Energy Development through Community Benefits Agreements & Successful Community Engagement".
On September 11, Jen Lerch, Senior Advisor to the Tribal Energy Finance Program, will moderate a Quick Talk on best practices for Tribal energy project development.
Staff from the Pathways to Commercialization Liftoff team will host two invitation-only Deploy Dialogues on?Innovative Finance for Clean Energy Projects?from 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. and on?Deploying Near-Term Energy Solutions for Large Loads from 1:00 - 3:30 p.m.
** NOTE: Access to Deploy Dialogues is free by invitation only and attendees must be registered for RE+ in order to attend. If you are attending RE+ and would like to inquire about an invitation to either Dialogue, please contact Campbell Howe, Senior Advisor (Contractor) at [email protected] (for Innovative Finance) or Louise White, Senior Advisor (Contractor), at [email protected]?(for Near-term Solutions for Large Loads).
LPO Director Jigar Shah will provide the 4:30 pm closing keynote for Forth Roadmap to highlight how widespread transportation electrification will help achieve our climate goals, strengthen the grid and create jobs nationwide.
The time has arrived! REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN for #Deploy24! Don't delay—discounted early adopter registration ends October 31st! Go to DeployTogether.com for more details, register today, and let's #DeployTogether this December! ________
Hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), DOE Under Secretary Office of Infrastructure, and LPO, Demonstrate Deploy Decarbonize 2024 (Deploy24) is the second annual gathering of leaders, experts, and decision-makers from across the private sector, government, and broader stakeholder ecosystem focused on accelerating deployment of clean energy and decarbonization technologies and enabling supply chains in the United States.
Deploy24 is a unique gathering where clean energy decision-makers will meet to not just talk about deployment, but to leverage their expertise, build upon the foundational insights of DOE’s Pathways to Commercial Liftoff reports (Liftoff.Energy.gov), and workshop real-world solutions to deployment challenges across key clean technology investment sectors.
Be sure to follow Demonstrate Deploy Decarbonize on LinkedIn?to stay up to date on the latest #Deploy24 news ahead of December 4th and go to DeployTogether.com for more details and to register today!
See LPO's full events calendar at:?Energy.gov/LPO/Events
A sampling of recent third-party media and podcast mentions of LPO and the LPO Team:
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LPO's Financing Programs
Learn more about all of LPO's financing programs at:?Energy.gov/LPO/Financing-Programs
Advanced Transportation Financing?(via the ATVM Program)
Tribal Energy Financing?(via the TELGP?Program)
CO2 Transportation Infrastructure Financing?(via the CIFIA?program)
Contact LPO to see what financing options may be available for your project, email [email protected] with questions, and go to Energy.gov/LPO/Pre-App?to schedule a no-fee, no-commitment pre-application consultation. Let's talk about your project!