The Biden administration launched two high-profile funding awards for clean energy projects, both of more than $1 billion, in its waning days before feared changes to industry financial support and favorable policies take shape under the Trump administration after January 20.
The U.S. General Services Administration said it awarded a two-part contract on Jan. 2 to nuclear power developer Constellation New Energy Inc., a unit of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Corp., to over $1 billion of energy supply and services during the period. the next ten years for 13 federal agencies affecting 80 facilities. They are in the area served by PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission operator covering parts of eleven Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states and Washington, DC. The contract also includes energy savings and efficiency improvements at five DC-area facilities. Constellation also announced the award.
The nuclear power purchase agreement is a “historic acquisition” that will go into effect on April 25, said GSA, which manages federal properties and facilities. With more than 300,000 buildings and nearly 370 million leasable square meters in its portfolio, the US government is the largest consumer of energy in the country.
Construction on the project will begin this month and continue until mid-2029.
Constellation, the largest owner of nuclear capacity in the United States, will win an $840 million supply contract to provide more than 1,000 MW-hours of electricity annually, the company said, adding that the contract will expand or increase the capacity of the its nuclear power fleet of 21 reactors in the area. served with funds to add at least 1 GW, roughly the equivalent of an entire new reactor.
GSA estimates it will include more than 10 million MW-hours over the ten years of the contract, allowing more resiliency and reliability for federal agencies while protecting against price increases. “In the face of uncertainty about future electricity prices and increased electricity demand from data centers and AI facilities … this contract provides federal agencies with budget stability and protections against future price increases by keeping their electricity costs fixed for 10 years, while continuing to strengthen the domestic nuclear industry,” GSA said.
Going nuclear
Power will be supplied to the GSA, the Architect of the Capitol, the Social Security Administration, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Transportation, the Mint of the US, the US Railroad Retirement Board, the National Archives and Records Administration, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Federal Reserve System, the National Park Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority at locations the agencies own or operate in Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
Constellation’s $172 million award under the contract covers work related to energy conservation and conservation improvements to the Elijah Barrett Prettyman US Courthouse, William B. Bryant Annex, and Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright federal buildings, all in Washington, DC, and in Harvey. W. Wiley Federal Building in College Park, Maryland.
The work will include the installation of LED lighting, HVAC, window inserts and replacements, and new and improved building HVAC and control equipment to improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions and lower energy costs. Four buildings will be converted to electric boilers and heat pumps from existing steam power systems. “The conversion improvements will be some of the most important energy conservation measures being undertaken as part of the project,” Constellation said.
GSA will also purchase 2.4 million MWh of new nuclear capacity, along with associated energy credits over the life of the contract. The new power source, along with carbon-free power already on the grid, would allow the agencies to go from their current level of 40% to 70% by 2027 and 100% by 2030, according to the agency .
The contract follows Constellation’s announced plan last fall to restart its shuttered Three Mile Island reactor in eastern Pennsylvania by 2028 as part of a long-term supply agreement to power the facility and the data centers of Microsoft Corp. “This deal is another powerful example of how things have changed,” said Joe Dominguez, CEO of Constellation. Restarting the plant will involve an estimated $1.6 billion in capital investment.
The contract demonstrates “how the federal government can join with major corporate buyers of clean energy to spur new nuclear power capacity and ensure a reliable and affordable supply of clean energy for all,” said Robin Carnahan, GSA administrator. Constellation will also provide preventive maintenance and training for GSA personnel.
Using federal purchasing power “to advance low-cost, reliable, carbon-free energy sources like nuclear is a powerful signal to the broader market to drive investment in new generation and new infrastructure to support it,” said Rich Powell, CEO of Clean Energy. Association of buyers.
Final loan of $1.45 million to solar manufacturer
Meanwhile, the US Department of Energy finalized a $1.45 billion federal loan guarantee to Hanwha QCells, the US unit of the South Korean manufacturer to support its panel manufacturing facility lots in Cartersville, Ga., the agency said Dec. 19. , which will begin full-scale operation in 2025, would create 1,650 full-time jobs and generate 3.3 GW of solar panels annually and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than five million tons annually, DOE said.
The facility, to integrate the production of solar components such as ingots, wafers and cells, as well as finished panels, will be the largest ingot and wafer plant ever built in the US, the DOE said, stating that it has “potential sales output in excess of $2 billion.”
Qcells signed an eight-year, 120GW solar and engineering, procurement and construction agreement with Microsoft, with panels to be manufactured in Cartersville. The manufacturer opened an earlier solar factory in Dalton, Ga., in 2019, which it expanded in 2023 to produce a total of 5.1 GW of solar panels per year. Qcells has committed to spending nearly $2.8 billion to build its solar supply chain in the US
Stantec and Gray Construction maintained the design-build team for the Cartersville facility. First says the closed facility will house the entire solar panel manufacturing process, the first in the United States to do so, including a wastewater facility that will handle 5.5 million gallons per day for its reuse in production facilities.
Across all DOE loan programs through November 2024, the agency said it has attracted 210 applications for domestic clean energy projects totaling more than $324.3 billion in requested loans and loan guarantees.
But in what appears to be a developing political conflict, DOE Inspector General Teri Donaldson urged the agency’s loan office in a Dec. 17 letter to immediately halt loan approvals for clean energy projects, alleging that potential conflicts of interest between potential borrowers and contractors have not been adequately addressed for the DOE. Donaldson, a Trump appointee, says her office’s concerns outlined in a new interim report are amplified as the loan office aims to finalize about $22 billion in loans before President Joe Biden leaves office. charge A spokesman for the loan program disputed the report’s findings, saying the operation “fully complies” with federal conflict-of-interest rules.
Donaldson said he will issue a full report when his review is complete, but ranking Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have also raised concerns about possible conflicts by the IG’s office in its own use of contractors .
