Jigar Shah, Director of the Loan Programs Office, dives into how the DOE Loan Programs Office (LPO) is supporting U.S. energy storage projects in line with the Biden Administration’s clean energy goals.
June 14, 2024
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In this post, I will explore how the DOE Loan Programs Office (LPO) is supporting U.S. energy storage projects.
U.S. energy storage capacity will need to scale rapidly over the next two decades to achieve the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of achieving a net-zero economy by 2050. DOE’s recently published Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Liftoff Report found that the U.S. grid may need between 225 and 460 gigawatts of LDES by 2050, requiring $330 billion in capital on the same timeline. These figures are in addition to the nation’s utility scale short duration storage needs, which will be about 160 gigawatts by 2050, according to the reference case from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2023 Annual Energy Outlook.
As we discuss in our Tech Talk, energy storage encompasses an array of technologies that enable energy produced at one time, such as during daylight or windy hours, to be stored for later use. LPO can finance both energy storage manufacturing and supply chain projects as well as deployment of a range of storage technologies, including flywheel, mechanical, electrochemical, thermal, and chemical storage technologies.
LPO can support these technologies through its loan programs in a few different ways. Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program’s Innovative Energy and Innovative Supply Chain category (Section 1703) can provide financing for deployment of storage technologies, or supply chain projects supporting energy storage, that use innovative technologies or processes; if qualifying storage projects receive meaningful support from a State Energy Financing Institution, they do not need to be innovative. Separately, the Title 17 Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (Section 1706) category provides financing for eligible storage technologies deployed in projects that retool, repower, repurpose, or replace energy infrastructure that has ceased operations or to enable operating energy infrastructure to avoid, reduce, utilize, or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. Finally, the Tribal Energy Financing program can support energy storage technologies in eligible projects to federally recognized tribes and qualified tribal energy development organizations.
As of the end of June 2023, requested financing from LPO for energy storage projects via active loan applications totaled nearly $8 billion. For more current details, view LPO’s Monthly Application Activity Report, which explains the level of interest from applicants for LPO financing and what technology sectors have been most actively engaged with LPO.
Energy Storage – Advanced Energy Storage
In June 2022, DOE announced it closed on a $504.4 million loan guarantee to the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in Delta, Utah — marking the first loan guarantee for a new clean energy technology project from LPO since 2014. The loan guarantee will help finance construction of the largest clean hydrogen storage facility in the world, capable of providing long-term low-cost, seasonal energy storage, furthering grid stability. The project is expected to create up to 400 construction and 25 operations jobs, advancing President Biden’s climate and clean energy deployment goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
Advanced Clean Energy Storage could help reduce curtailment of renewable energy in the Western United States by providing long-term energy storage that is currently not available, supporting DOE’s Long-Duration Storage Shot. Participants in the existing Intermountain Power Project in Utah have excess supplies of renewable energy, particularly in the spring. This results in the curtailment of renewable energy during those months and a shortage of renewable energy during subsequent months. Advanced Clean Energy Storage would convert that excess renewable energy to hydrogen that can be stored until needed. This will help to seasonally balance supply with demand and further stabilize the grid.
Energy Storage – Eos Energy Enterprises
In December 2024, LPO announced the closing of a $303.5 million loan guarantee Eos Energy Enterprises for a loan guarantee of up to $398.6 million loan guarantee. The loan guarantee will help finance the construction of as many as four state-of-the-art production lines to produce the “Eos Z3™,” a next-generation utility- and industrial-scale zinc-bromine battery energy storage system (BESS) in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania.
The project is expected to manufacture 8 GWh of storage capacity annually by 2026. That amount of storage capacity is enough to provide electricity to over 300,000 average U.S. homes instantaneously or meet the annual electricity needs of approximately 130,000 homes if fully charged and discharged daily. The project is expected to create up to 50 union contractor construction jobs and as many as 650 new operations jobs when at full operational capacity.
Eos’s zinc-bromine Eos Z3™ batteries provide an alternative battery chemistry to lithium-ion, lead-acid, sodium-sulfur, and vanadium redox chemistries for stationary battery storage applications. Eos’s technology is also specifically designed for long-duration grid-scale stationary battery storage that can assist in meeting the energy grids’ growing demand with increasing amounts of renewable energy penetration. Eos already manufactures a zinc-bromine battery; if finalized, LPO financing will help develop the next-generation battery system, the Eos Z3, which are expected to be more energy-dense and cost-efficient to produce than Eos’s previous models.
Energy Storage – KORE Power
In June 2023, DOE announced a conditional commitment to KORE Power for a loan of up to $850 million to help finance the construction of an advanced battery cell manufacturing facility in Buckeye, Arizona. The facility, called “KOREPlex,” aims to strengthen the domestic battery supply chain by significantly increasing the nation’s battery cell manufacturing capacity for energy storage systems (ESS) and electric vehicles (EVs). The facility will produce an estimated 6 GWh of battery cell storage capacity annually, which could power more than 28,000 EVs annually and displace an estimated 11.8 million gallons of gasoline per year.
The project is expected to create up to 700 construction jobs and 1,250 operations jobs. KORE will be engaging with local community colleges and Tribal communities to hire and train the local workforce for facility operations jobs.
ESS allow energy from intermittent renewable sources, like wind and solar, to be stored and dispatched as needed. As the United States prioritizes electrification of the transportation sector and domestic demand for batteries increases exponentially, the KOREPlex facility will be well-positioned to manufacture batteries to meet the country’s diverse storage needs.
Jigar Shah
Former Director, Loan Programs Office
Jigar Shah served as Director of the Loan Programs Office (LPO) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from March 2021 to January 2025. He led and directed LPO’s loan authority to support deployment of innovative clean energy, advanced transportation, and Tribal energy projects in the United States. Prior, Shah was co-founder and President at Generate Capital, where he focused on helping entrepreneurs accelerate decarbonization solutions through the use of low-cost infrastructure-as-a service financing. Prior to Generate Capital, Shah founded SunEdison, a company that pioneered “pay as you save” solar financing. After SunEdison, Shah served as the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change.
Shah was also featured in TIME's list of the "100 Most Influential People" in 2024.
Originally from Illinois, Shah holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois-UC and an MBA from the University of Maryland College Park.
Energy Storage News Roundup
- US green hydrogen hub will put long-haul energy storage to the test (Canary Media)
- LPO loan commitments for Utah hydrogen storage project (Axios)
- DOE closes on $504M loan guarantee for Utah hydrogen storage project with 150 GWh seasonal capacity (Utility Dive)
- Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Long Duration Energy Storage Webinar (U.S. Department of Energy)
- US to loan KORE Power $850 million for Arizona battery cell plant | Reuters
- US Battery Maker Secures $399 Million Energy Loan Guarantee (1) (bloomberglaw.com)
This blog was originally published on July 12, 2023, and is periodically updated.