The week in 5 numbers: DOE backs transmission, Amazon’s dozen nuclear reactors
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After delaying or canceling billions of dollars in loans for clean energy and transmission projects that were awarded under the previous administration, the U.S. Department of Energy announced this week it has closed a loan guarantee for AEP for transmission upgrades.
That and other figures making waves in the electric utility industry:
$1.6 billion
The amount the U.S. Department of Energy will loan to a subsidiary of American Electric Power to reconductor and rebuild around 5,000 miles of transmission lines across Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma and West Virginia. AEP is the first company to close a loan guarantee under the Energy Dominance Financing Program created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
12
The number of small nuclear reactors Energy Northwest and Amazon are planning to deploy at Cascade Advanced Energy Facility near Richland, Washington. Three 320-MW sections will together comprise a 960-MW plant within the space of a few city blocks, Amazon said. The SMRs will be supplied by X-energy, which received $500 million in Series C funding from Amazon last year.
43 GW
The amount of storage the PJM Interconnection needs to deploy by 2045 to meet resource adequacy needs and state clean energy goals, according to a study by the Brattle Group commissioned by the U.S. Energy Storage Coalition. PJM spokesperson Dan Lockwood said the grid operator has 63 GW of storage projects in its queue as of June and is looking to add more.
6.2 GW
The combined capacity of the Esmeralda 7, a group of seven solar projects planned on federal land in Nevada. Their fate was thrown into question this week after the Department of Interior canceled its broad environmental review of all seven projects together. A spokesperson for the agency said it could still review and permit each project individually, denying that the initiative itself had been canceled.
$226 million
The approximate amount California has authorized for offshore wind ports. The Port San Luis Harbor District — one of five entities that received state grants recently for planning, engineering and design — is on track to become the state’s first dedicated offshore wind hub.