SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. could receive up to $15 billion in federal loans to help the utility modernize its power grid and expand clean energy infrastructure across central and northern California, officials announced Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced a conditional commitment for one of the largest loan guarantees ever under its Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment program. When finalized, the money would be loaned in installments over several years.
The funds would support a portfolio of projects to expand hydropower generation and battery storage, upgrade transmission capacity, and enable virtual power plants throughout PG&E’s service area, the energy department said.
PG&E submitted its application to the agency’s Loan Programs Office in June 2023. Partially funding its projects with lower-cost federal loans could save customers up to $1 billion over the life of the financing, the utility said in a statement Tuesday.
“Investments in a clean and resilient grid for northern and central California will have significant returns for our customers in safety, reliability and economic growth. The DOE loan program can help us accelerate the pace and impact of this work, which supports thousands of living wage jobs, at a lower cost to our customers,” PG&E CEO Patti Poppe said in the statement.
The Sierra Club, the environmental advocacy group, cheered PG&E’s commitment to modernizing the power grid and expanding clean energy infrastructure.
The loan office hopes to finalize the commitment before President Joe Biden leaves office next month.
The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. The Trucker Media Group is subscriber of The Associated Press has been granted the license to use this content on TheTrucker.com and The Trucker newspaper in accordance with its Content License Agreement with The Associated Press.
