Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) has been offered a record $15 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand its electrical grid and support clean energy projects. The conditional loan, announced by the Biden administration, aims to help the utility fund infrastructure projects without raising customer rates or cutting spending on wildfire resilience.
The funding commitment is the largest ever made by the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office, which has seen a significant increase in funding since the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. PG&E applied for the alternative funding in June 2023 and plans to use it for several projects, including refurbishing hydroelectric facilities, expanding battery storage, and deploying technology to harden grid operations.
The utility is facing growing electricity demand as California increases its efforts to support electric vehicles, data centers, and the AI industry. However, PG&E has faced financial challenges, including a bankruptcy filing in 2019 and pressure not to raise customer rates.
PG&E’s CEO, Patti Poppe, said the loan will help accelerate the company’s work on creating a clean and resilient grid, supporting thousands of living-wage jobs at a lower cost to customers. The Energy Department and PG&E must finalize technical conditions of the loan before the financing is issued.
Source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/pge-loan-energy-19986644.php