Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy pulled the plug on billions of dollars worth of funding designated for advanced manufacturing, grid modernization, community resilience centers, educational institutions, and various clean energy and efficiency initiatives. These cuts are in addition to 321 financial awards supporting 223 projects that were adjourned on October 2.
The implications are dire for domestic supply chain recovery efforts and even more so for ratepayers. Major automakers will have to find another way to push electric vehicle (EV) production, forcing U.S. companies to rely on foreign supplies, and utilities will have to rethink how they will pay for much-needed updates to aging electric infrastructure.
Jeremy Fisher of the Sierra Club, an environmental group, has collected an overview of the latest DOE cuts and sorted them by funding office. The Oct. 7 decision to cut nearly 600 infrastructure projects cuts a total of $15.5 billion in federal spending, $13.3 billion in state matching funds, and guarantees billions in private investment.
The biggest cuts and who they hurt the most
Major automakers and suppliers are facing the most painful plan cuts, mostly targeted at EV and battery manufacturing. Fiat Chrysler is losing out on $530 million in federal funding for EV factories in Illinois and Indiana. General Motors is leaving $500 million for new electric motor factories in Michigan, Kansas and Kentucky. Volvo ($208 million, North Carolina) and Harley-Davidson ($89 million, Pennsylvania) are also drawing the short straw.
Grid modernization projects, both large and small, developed by utilities and state commissions are on the DOE’s chopping block, including $630.6 million to go to the California Energy Commission (CEC) to rehabilitate more than 100 miles of transmission lines and build others, with $464.5 million designated. Addressing reliability and resilience concerns in underserved areas.
“These projects are not only important to the communities and jobs they serve, but are fundamental to a strong supply chain to sustain prices,” said Fisher, principal climate and energy counsel with the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. “Investments in our economy drive new industries, drive American innovation, and keep our economy competitive.” Reducing these programs is a relatively small short-term gain for a long-term loss.”
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The most important (by dollar amount) other deductions are listed below, organized by office. You can see all DOE project cancellations tracked by the Sierra Club here.
Office of Clean Energy Demonstration – 44 4.44 billion
- Heidelberg Materials (Mitchell, IN): 500m to build and operate an integrated carbon capture, transport and storage system
- National Cement Company of California (Lebec, CA): 500 m to construct and operate an integrated carbon capture storage (CCS) in connection with a CO2 transport pipeline.
- Eastman Chemical Co. (Longview, TX): $375m to process a first-of-its-kind facility for increasy 375m chemically recycled polyethylene terephthalate (CRPET)
- ExxonMobil (Bytown, TX): 1 331.9m to enable the use of hydrogen in place of natural gas at a chemical plant and refinery.
- Vale USA (Convent, LA): 2 282.9m for first-of-its-kind low-emissions iron ore refining
Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chain (MESC) – 3 4.03 billion
- FCAUS LLC (Belvedere, IL): 4 334.8m to convert Belvedere Assembly Complex for electrification
- Climbing Elements (Pembroke, Ky): 6 316.2m to establish industrial-scale battery precursor production capacity of sustainable, low-cost cathode active materials in the US
- Mercedes-Benz Vans (Ladson, SC): 5 285m designated for next-generation all-electric van production
- FCAUS LLC (Kokomo, ME): 250m to replace Indiana transmission plant for electric drive module manufacturing
- Volvo America (Greensboro, NC): 8 208.2m for the manufacture of commercial trucks from fossil fuels for McTrucks, Inc.
Grid Deployment Office (GDO) – 29 3.29 billion
- Confederated Tribes of the Hot Springs Reservation and Portland General Electric (Portland, OR): 250m grip funding for an advanced 500KV transmission project
- Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (Baton Rouge, LA): 9 249.3m for the Louisiana Hubs for Energy Resilience Operations (HERO) project.
- Exelon Business Services (Chicago, IL): 100m to accelerate adoption of clean energy through implementation of Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) and more
- Redwood Coast Energy Authority (Eureka, CA): 87.6M for three front-of-meter community microgrids
- Virginia Department of Energy (Big Stone Gap, VA): .4 85.4M Addressing U.S. grid reliability and resiliency challenges posed by large data center loads
Fossil Energy and Carbon Management – 9 1.97 billion
- Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO): 300m for methane emission reduction programs and gas methane monitoring.
- Institute of Gas Technology (Des Plaines, IL): 210m aims to reduce methane emissions from small operators
- Institute of Gas Technology (Desplaines, IL): 6 126.7m for carbon dioxide plant test facility
- Membrane Technology and Research (Newark, CA): .1 62.1M to pilot membrane technology in carbon capture applications
- Tampa Electric Company (Mulberry, FL): 55.8m for Pollock Carbon Storage Complex.
Energy efficiency and renewable energy – 69 1.69 billion
- Ford Motor Company (Dearborn, MI): 25m for high-energy fuel cells bent for electric medium-duty trucks
- Daimler Trucks North America (Portland, OR): $23.3 million for the North American Super Truck 3 project.
- General Motors (Pontiac, MI): 22.1m intended for high-speed fuel cell stack manufacturing
- G Vernova (Schencatady, NY): .6 20.6M for high performance, ultra-light superconducting generators for offshore wind
- University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN): 20m that was part of a partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory
