U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced the termination of 24 awards issued by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) totaling over $3.7 billion in financial assistance.
Of the 24 awards cancelled, 16 were signed between Election Day and January 20th. The projects primarily include funding for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and decarbonization initiatives.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said it concluded the projects “failed to advance the energy needs of the American people, were not economically viable, and would not generate a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”
Although DOE did not specify which projects were affected, reports suggest that they include $331 allocated to Exxon Mobil for a hydrogen project at its Baytown, Texas refinery; $170 million to Kraft Heinz for several clean energy developments; $500 million to Heidelberg Materials for a low-carbon cement project; $375 million to Eastman Chemical for its molecular recycling facility in Longview, Texas; and $270 million to Calpine subsidiaries for carbon capture projects in Baytown, Texas, and near Yuba City, California.
