The Ministry of Energy announced on Thursday that it is pulling the plug on $83.6 billion in Biden-era loans earmarked for clean energy projects. This is the latest action the Trump administration has taken to reprioritize federal support for fossil fuels.
Credit: NextEra Energy
Of the affected loans, $9.5 billion, originally issued for solar and wind energy projects, will be reinvested in natural gas and nuclear energy projects.
These loans were issued by the DOE’s Loan Programs Office under the Biden administration, which has been replaced by the Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF). The Trump administration has withdrawn $29.9 billion of the $83.6 billion spent on clean energy projects and is working to “unwind” the rest, according to a DOE news release.
“Over the past year, the Energy Department has individually assessed our entire loan portfolio to ensure a responsible investment of taxpayer dollars,” said Secretary Chris Wright. “We found that in the final months of the Biden administration, more dollars flowed out of the Loan Programs Office than had been disbursed in more than fifteen years. President Trump pledged to protect taxpayer dollars and expand America’s supply of affordable, reliable, and safe energy. Thanks to the Working Families Tax Cut, the newly restructured Energy Dominance Financing is playing a key role in fulfilling that mission.”
The EDF has $289 billion allocated for its new energy and infrastructure priority areas, including investments in fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, geothermal and nuclear energy and critical mineral extraction. The Trump administration sees these energy sources as an answer to the growing energy demand from AI data centers Association of Solar Energy Industriesthe largest solar lobby group in the US, has stated that solar energy is a faster answer to that question.
Utility-scale solar deployment has consistently surpassed fossil fuels over the past two years. Solar energy, even without including rooftop installations, has overtaken wind as the largest source of renewable energy on the U.S. electric grid, according to a report published by the SUN DAY Campaign.
