Last week DOE’s Loan Program Office released the attached supplement clarifying that the deployment and installation of EV charging infrastructure and associated hardware and software may be financed under the Title XVII Renewable Energy and Efficient Energy Projects (REEE) solicitation (this was part of a bigger White House announcement). Specifically, the supplement provides that EV charging facilities may be deemed efficient electrical transmission and distribution technologies under the REEE solicitation. The REEE solicitation currently provides up to $4.5 billion in loan guarantees (for a variety of projects not just EV charging) to support innovative renewable energy and efficient energy projects in the United States.
Some background on LPO:
Loan guarantees can be an important tool to commercialize innovative technologies because these projects may be unable to obtain full commercial financing due to the perceived risks associated with technology that has never been deployed at commercial scale in the United States. The DOE’s LPO supports a large, diverse portfolio of more than $30 billion in loans, loan guarantees, and commitments to approximately 30 closed and committed projects nationwide, including leading edge renewable energy projects, advanced technology vehicle manufacturing facilities, and other projects.
Dedicated LPO EV related Website:
There is now a dedicated LPO website for electric vehicles. This webpage http://energy.gov/lpo/electric-vehicles lists the new supplement, corresponding fact sheet from LPO, and the White House factsheet issued last week summarizing the supplement, among other EV-related announcements.
The website at http://energy.gov/lpo/electric-vehicles includes supplements that include deadline dates and supplemental information to the solicitation which was originally issued in 2014. Deadlines are also listed on the front webpage for the site: http://energy.gov/lpo/loan-programs-office. Applications for loans can be found here as well.
