A Department of Energy list of energy projects the Trump administration intends to cut includes an upgrade of Southern California transmission lines.
The Trump administration plans to cancel billions of dollars for energy projects following the US government shutdown and that includes an upgrade of electric transmission lines in California.
A consortium that includes the California Energy Commission and Southern California Edison was awarded a federal grant of $600 million for the upgrade last year, which was to allow faster access to clean energy. But that project — slated to improve 100 miles of transmission lines — will have its funding cut, according to a list from the Department of Energy.
Shares of Edison International, which operates Southern California Edison, fell as much as 5% Thursday. Representatives for Edison and PG&E Corp., a partner in the project, said the companies hadn’t been notified that the funding was canceled.
All told, the Energy Department plans to terminate financial awards supporting 223 projects, which is expected to result in savings of about $7.6 billion, according to a statement Wednesday. That includes hydrogen hubs in California and the Pacific Northwest.
Other canceled awards include hundreds of millions of dollars of grants for grid improvements to a range of utilities and energy service providers and carbon capture demonstration projects, according to the Energy Department list. Some of the awards on the list, including projects to make climate-friendly cement, were previously announced by the department in May.
More than a quarter of the canceled funding, totaling more than $3.1 billion, were awarded between Election Day and Inauguration Day, the Energy Department said.
The cuts followed a review by the department to ensure projects that won funds under former President Joe Biden were financially sound, and consistent with Trump administration policies. The termination of funding can be appealed within 30 days, and some ventures have already begun that process, according to the statement, without identifying them.
The Biden administration previously announced as much as $2.2 billion would be awarded for the hydrogen hubs — a broad network of producers and consumers spanning multiple states — as part of its effort to spur development of the clean-burning source of power.
The funding eliminations for green projects in Democratic-leaning states was flagged by White House Budget Director Russell Vought. It also comes as the Trump administration plans to lean into hardball tactics to pressure Democrats to end the US government shutdown that began on Wednesday.
Natter writes for Bloomberg. Kanupriya Kapoor contributed.
