Biden-Harris Administration Bringing Back Clean Nuclear Energy, Creating Clean Energy Union Jobs Across The Midwest
WASHINGTON, September 30, 2024 – As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), today announced more than $2.8 billion to support reliable, affordable, and clean power in the Midwest. DOE, through its Loan Programs Office (LPO), announced the closing of a loan guarantee of up to $1.52 billion under the Inflation Reduction Act’s Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) program to Holtec Palisades to help finance the restoration and resumption of service of an 800-MW nuclear generating station in Covert Township, Michigan. This represents a first of a kind effort by DOE to restart an American nuclear power plant—generating carbon pollution-free energy and saving and expanding a union workforce in Michigan while helping strengthen America’s nuclear energy sector and advance core climate and domestic energy goals.
USDA also announced more than $1.3 billion in Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program awards for two rural electric cooperatives––Wolverine Power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy––to reduce the cost of electricity passed on to their members for clean power from Holtec Palisades and other clean energy sources. These awards reinforce the Administration’s approach to achieving widespread deployment of advanced nuclear as described in the updated Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Advanced Nuclear report, also just announced by DOE, as well as supporting a more prosperous future for rural communities by accelerating the transition to clean energy, keeping monthly bills low for American families, and investing in a strong rural workforce.
“Since day one of their Administration, President Biden and Vice President Harris have been clear that rural electric cooperatives are the backbone of our nation and investing in them is a top priority,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Through the investments announced today under USDA’s New ERA program, we can continue supporting a more prosperous future for rural communities by accelerating the transition to clean energy, keeping monthly bills low for American families and investing in a strong rural workforce.”
“Nuclear power is America’s largest source of carbon-free of electricity, supporting hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs across the country and will play a critical role in tackling the climate crisis and protecting public health and the environment from its impacts,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Under President Biden and Vice President Harris’ leadership, DOE and our partners across the federal government are working around the clock to ensure this vital source of clean electricity—and the vibrant workforce it supports— continues to power our nation for generations to come.”
“From Day One, President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken historic steps to keep existing nuclear plants from shutting down, restart previously shuttered nuclear plants, and bring new reactors online. The results are visible across the country – more clean power and more union jobs. It’s a powerful clean energy comeback story that represents a chance to build our manufacturing capacity and rebuild our middle class. Today’s announcement – which will catalyze the first recommissioning of a nuclear power plant in U.S. history – create hundreds of long-term union jobs, support workforce development, and feed our nation’s energy demand while reducing emissions,” said White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi. “Working with two rural electric co-ops, we are also ensuring families and small businesses in rural communities can tap into this reliable and lower-cost power. This is the playbook for how Michigan, and America, wins the future.”
“This project will bring a retired nuclear power plant back to life for the first time in American history and deliver reliable, affordable clean power to rural areas in Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois—showing how the Inflation Reduction Act is revitalizing communities across the Midwest,” said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy. “Today’s investments will create good-paying, union jobs—many of them for workers who’ve been at the plant for more than two decades.”
The Palisades Nuclear Plant, which ceased operations in May 2022, will be brought back online and upgraded to produce clean baseload power until at least 2051, subject to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing approvals. The NRC also issued new guidance to ensure the restart is performed safely and to high standards. Once complete, this project will be the first recommissioning of a retired nuclear power plant in U.S. history—underscoring President Biden and Vice President Harris’ deep commitment to retaining and creating clean power jobs and advancing the U.S. nuclear industry while tackling the climate crisis and helping to achieve our domestic greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Later today, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy David M. Turk, USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small, and White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi will join local, state, and labor leaders for a tour of Holtec Palisades Training Center. During the visit, DOE Deputy Secretary Turk, USDA Deputy Secretary Torres Small, and Advisor Zaidi will highlight how today’s announcement reinforces the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government approach to supporting good-paying, high-quality job opportunities in communities across the country while also expanding access to affordable clean energy resources that will protect public health and the environment from the impacts of climate change.
The restart of Holtec Palisades is projected to create or retain up to 600 high-quality jobs in Michigan––many of them filled by workers who have been at the plant for more than 20 years–– with approximately 45% of the workforce at the site being good-paying union labor upon restart. In addition to the workers supported by the facility’s restart, the loan guarantee will support more than 1,000 jobs during the facility’s regularly scheduled refueling and maintenance periods every 18 months. Holtec Palisades has a project labor agreement in place with 15 trade unions that are supporting the project.
In addition, the plant restart will also help fight the climate crisis with an anticipated 4.47 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions avoided per year for a total of 111 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions during the projected 25 years of operations—an amount roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of 882,000 homes. Reducing fossil fuel-based electricity generation also reduces other harmful pollution that is often released during the process and can cause or contribute to local health impacts.
Once operational, the Palisades Nuclear Plant will provide reliable, clean firm power generation around-the-clock with zero emissions––a vital addition to Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) resource mix as coal plants are retired. Holtec Palisades has already signed long-term Power Purchase Agreements for the full power output with rural electric co-ops Wolverine Power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy who serve rural communities in Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. This will significantly reduce Hoosier’s climate pollution and put Wolverine on track to reach 100 percent carbon-free energy before 2030, allowing rural communities across Michigan to lower their carbon footprint from grid-connected energy to zero.
USDA’s investments will help lower energy costs for rural communities. As non-profit wholesale electric suppliers owned by their customers/members, Wolverine and Hoosier Energy will pass 100% of the New ERA grant funds directly through to the homes and businesses served by their member electric cooperatives. This means that every dollar will go straight to the communities they serve, helping to reduce wholesale power costs, provide community benefits and keep electricity reliable and affordable.
The project also supports President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which established the goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments, including LPO financing, flow to communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. The Palisades Nuclear Plant is located in a disadvantaged community, where residents face higher energy costs than 97% of communities in the United States.
LPO works with all borrowers to create good-paying local jobs during construction, operations, and throughout the life of the loan and to adhere to a strong Community Benefits Plan that will provide information and opportunities for meaningful community input and engagement regarding the plant and its operations. Holtec is committed to remaining an actively engaged community partner to ensure the public and interested stakeholders are well informed of site activities and can seek information and provide feedback to the company, both directly to Holtec and through the relevant NRC restart process.
Across all LPO’s programs, DOE has attracted 211 active applications for projects across the country totaling over $295.8 billion in requested loans and loan guarantees, as of August 2024. As of August 2024, LPO has issued $43.9 billion in loans and loan guarantees, creating over 47,000 permanent jobs. For more information about Holtec Palisades, read the conditional commitment blog post and visit LPO’s portfolio project page.
In addition, the Department of Energy today released a new Pathways to Commercial Liftoff report on nuclear, which is an update to the report released last year. This new report includes updated analyses and insights, reflecting the rapid learning and progress made in the industry. Furthermore, Idaho National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory published a report analyzing the potential to deploy nuclear at existing and recently retired nuclear and coal power plants around the United States. The report, which looked at a wide range of factors, identified 60 to 95 GW of deployment potential at nuclear plants and an additional 128 to174 GW at coal plants.
Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment Program
This announcement marks the first closing of a loan guarantee through the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) program under Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Section 1706, first authorized and appropriated by President Biden’s historic Inflation Reduction Act. EIR can finance projects that retool, repower, repurpose, or replace energy infrastructure that has ceased operations or enable operating energy infrastructure to avoid, reduce, utilize, or sequester air pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions. Holtec Palisades will repower existing energy infrastructure that has been nonoperational and support reinvestment in the community, underscoring the Biden-Harris Administration’s deep commitment to ensuring no community is left behind as we build America’s clean energy future. As of September 30, 2024, $64.89 billion in Advanced Nuclear projects have submitted applications or are expected to submit applications in the next 120 days: $12.09 billion in Section 1703 projects and $52.8 billion in Section 1706 (EIR) projects.
USDA New ERA Funding Will Lower Rural Energy Costs
Today, USDA is announcing that the Wolverine Power Cooperative is being awarded more than $650 million in New ERA financing to purchase approximately 435 MW of clean, carbon-free wholesale energy from the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant to serve its members throughout rural Michigan. The project is also expected to support key initiatives such as low-income community solar, skilled trades training, agricultural investments and energy efficiency programs, which will benefit the members and communities it serves for decades to come.
Hoosier Energy is being awarded more than $675 million to lower the cost of purchasing approximately 370 MW of clean energy from the restart of Palisades Nuclear Plant and approximately 250 MW of solar energy to serve their members in Illinois and Indiana. The investment is expected to create nearly 800 short- and long-term jobs and provide annual estimated cost savings of $35 million to Hoosier Energy members. The project is also expected to allow Hoosier to invest in local cooperative community grant programs, increase investment and enrollment in critical training and safety programs, and grow university partnerships and scholarships. It will also expand highly effective energy efficiency and demand-side management programming for cooperative consumers, farmers, and agribusiness.
USDA’s New ERA program, together with the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program and other clean energy investments in the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, make up the largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936. USDA expects to continue making New ERA and Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program awards in the coming months.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, and ensuring access to safe, healthy, and nutritious food in all communities. USDA is also building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
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