US Seeks Input on How to Use Cold-War Law to Boost Clean Tech
(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Department of Energy is considering ways to boost domestic production of clean energy technologies such as solar panels, transformers and hydrogen fuel cells by using the powers of a Cold War-era law once used by former President Donald Trump to shore it up became coal plants that are losing money.
The agency said in a statement Monday that it is soliciting public input on how the Defense Production Act can be used to accelerate production of technology for grid reliability and clean energy deployment. President Joe Biden’s administration gave the agency new powers to apply the 1950 Act over the summer.
“The national defense need to strengthen the US clean energy manufacturing base has become more urgent,” the Energy Department said in a statement. “Russia’s war on Ukraine and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted global supply chains and underscored the dangers of our over-reliance on foreign sources for grid components and fossil fuels from opposing nations.”
The agency already plans to use $250 million from the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act to fund Defense Production Act investments to manufacture and deploy heat pumps. Future funds could be used for grid transformers facing two-year waits due to supply chain challenges that threaten grid reliability, particularly coupled with an increase in hurricanes and wildfires, the department said.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said her department wants to continue “hearing from industry, labor, environmental, energy justice and state, local and tribal stakeholders about how we can best use this powerful new agency to support the clean energy workforce and technologies.” that are needed to combat climate change.”
The Defense Production Act has been used by President Harry Truman to make steel for the Korean War and by Trump to boost mask production during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Department of Energy said it plans to use the law to strengthen U.S. supply chains, including purchases, offtake commitments and financial support. These include direct financial support to expand US manufacturing or a commitment to purchase a certain amount of transformers to provide manufacturers with demand certainty.
In addition, the department is considering using the Defense Production Act to boost American production of solar photovoltaic, insulation and platinum-group electrolyzers, fuel cells and metal catalysts, which are seen as promoting the production and use of clean hydrogen.
“Building the domestic power industry base needed to maintain and strengthen grid reliability and resilience is critical to the U.S. economy and our national defense,” the department said in the statement.
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