On 2 October, the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced the termination of 321 financial awards supporting 223 projects, worth US$7.56bn, including projects involving co-ops.
DOE said it had evaluated each of the awards, made under the Biden administration, based on its new policy for assessing financial awards and determined that they “did not meet the economic, national security or energy security standards necessary to justify continued investment”.
“On day one, the Energy Department began the critical task of reviewing billions of dollars in financial awards, many rushed through in the final months of the Biden administration with inadequate documentation by any reasonable business standard,” said energy secretary Chris Wright. “President Trump promised to protect taxpayer dollars and expand America’s supply of affordable, reliable, and secure energy. Today’s cancellation’s deliver on that commitment. Rest assured, the Energy Department will continue reviewing awards to ensure that every dollar works for the American people.”
A list of affected projects and states released by the House Appropriations Committee shows the cancelled projects are based in 16 Democrat-led states, and impacting 136 congressional districts, 108 of which are represented by Democrats and 28 by Republicans.
“This is a shameless and vindictive attack by director [Russell] Vought [of the United States Office of Management and Budget], which will eliminate jobs and raise energy costs for Americans across the country,” said House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro in a statement.
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“This was obviously designed as a political attack by the White House targeting Democrats. But the sad reality is that Americans – the middle class, working class, and vulnerable – who voted for both Democrats and Republicans will be hurt by this. This is divisive, it is petty, and unfortunately it is exactly what we have come to expect from president Trump and Russ Vought.”
Marcy Kaptur, ranking member congresswoman on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, said: “This week’s termination of energy projects is reckless and short-sighted — it will raise energy prices for working families, kill good-paying American jobs, and cede global clean-energy leadership to communist China.
“This is political theatre, not sound policy. Congress must defend communities and investments in our future – not cave to partisan threats. If we abandon an all of the above energy strategy, the American people will suffer.”
The termination list includes 26 Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (Grip) programme grants, all in states that voted for Biden in 2024. Four co-ops are set to lose funding as a result – Kit Carson, United Power, Kaua‘i Island Utility, and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, which stand to lose $66.3m between them.
Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) says its grants were were secured by the Hawai‘i State Energy Office (HSEO), with KIUC as the sole subcontractor. KIUC says a congressional delegation informed it that both grants have been terminated, but HSEO has yet to receive termination letters.
The co-op says the projects, which would be funded through Grip, aim to leverage existing power generation equipment with new technology to reduce Kaua‘i’s dependence on imported oil and support reliable island grid operation. KIUC was due to receive $18.2m in federal assistance toward the $35.8m cost of the two projects combined. KIUC has already spent more than $1.3m implementing the projects, with $550,000 of that amount pending reimbursement.
The Utility Solar Grid Forming Technology (USGFT) project, estimated at $32.5m, would add battery storage and advanced grid forming inverters to three existing solar power plants in Anahola, Kōloa and Port Allen. Meanwhile, the Synchronous Condenser Conversion Technology (SCCT) project, estimated to cost $3.3m, adds grid-forming capability to an existing generator at the Port Allen power station to accommodate stable operation of high penetration distributed variable renewable generation (i.e., daytime solar) on Kaua‘i’s electric grid. HSEO intends to appeal the termination.
“If the grants are cancelled and not reinstated through a successful appeal, KIUC would need to decide whether to abandon the projects or spend the additional $18.2 million in lost federal funds to complete the two projects,” the co-op said in a statement.
Tri-State, a power supply co-op serving electric distribution co-ops and public power district member-owners in four states (Colorado, New Mexico, Nebrasca, Wyoming) has also had its $27m Grip grant cancelled.
“It is with disappointment that Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association received news late Thursday night that the Grid Deployment Office of the US Department of Energy (DOE) has officially terminated our $26.8m Grip programme award,” said CEO Duane Highley.
“The award would have offset some of the costs of implementing our demand response and load management programmes, and other tools to optimise the system. We had been working with DOE over the last two years on the award, after being selected in October 2023.
“Over the next few days, we will review our appeal options. While disappointing, the withdrawal of this award does not change our plans to increase grid resiliency and reliability in the most affordable manner for our rural members in Wyoming, Nebraska, New Mexico and Colorado.”
Tri-State has been making an effort in recent years to switch to renewables after certain member co-ops left the organisation to source cleaner energy, prompting a dispute over exit fees.
Also on the termination list is Amicus O&M Cooperative, whose member companies provide operations and maintenance services for of solar PV systems throughout North America. The co-op has lost $1.49m in grant funding.
Affected co-ops have 30 days to appeal the decision.
