The DOE is de-obligating nearly $30 billion and revising about $53 billion of the $104 billion in loans previously committed under the former administration
Around $9.5 billion in wind and solar projects have already been eliminated, with funding redirected toward natural gas and nuclear upgrades, as confirmed
The DOE says that through its review of the previous administration’s green finance, it aims to refocus financing on energy sources that provide more reliable and secure power
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is restructuring, revising, or eliminating over $83 billion in ‘Green New Scam’ loans and conditional commitments, as it continues to clamp down on renewable energy in its bid to focus on natural gas and nuclear energy.
It has taken the decision following the first-year review of the $104 billion principal loan obligations to the Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF), previously the Loan Programs Office (LPO), committed under the previous administration under President Joe Biden.
The DOE says this is the first-year review of the $104 billion as part of its exercise to reform the EDF to ‘more responsibly steward’ taxpayer dollars towards financing opportunities to accelerate the deployment of technologies that provide an affordable, reliable, and secure energy supply – read clean coal, oil, gas, nuclear, hydrocarbon, and geothermal.
Its investigation found “more dollars were rushed out of the door of the Loan Program Office in the final months of the Biden Administration than had been disbursed in over fifteen years,” claimed Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Out of $104 billion, it is de-obligating close to $30 billion and is in the process of revising the remaining $53 billion.
EDF, said the DOE, has eliminated around $9.5 billion in government-subsidized, intermittent wind and solar projects. It is replacing them with investments in natural gas and nuclear uprates.
However, it does not specify which projects are impacted by these decisions.
The DOE previously said it plans to cancel over $13 billion in clean energy funding, including solar and wind, as part of the previous administration’s ‘wasteful Green New Scam’ (see US To Pull Back $13 Billion In Funds Meant For Green Energy).
US President Donald Trump had earlier issued an executive order on July 7, 2025, directing the Departments of the Treasury and the Interior to mandate strict enforcement of the repeal of solar and wind tax credits (see Trump Signs Executive Order To End Green Energy Subsidies).
In 2026, the DOE said it will prioritize financing energy and manufacturing projects to support grid reliability and energy security, and will partner with the private sector to support US leadership in emerging AI technologies.
These measures will create more challenges for the US solar industry, which is already facing heightened scrutiny of renewables under Trump 2.0.
In December 2025, 143 solar companies reached out to the US Congress seeking a reversal of the Department of the Interior memo, which they say has created a ‘near complete moratorium’ for solar development (see US Solar Industry Urges Congress To Fast-Track Permitting).
Despite these challenges, along with the impact of trade actions and tighter sourcing of US solar and storage projects, Wood Mackenzie and CohnReznick highlight strong structural factors boosting demand for these technologies (see Policy Shifts Reshape US Solar, Storage Economics).