A reported “hit list” of clean energy projects that could lose U.S. Department of Energy funding includes a long-duration storage demonstration project that included Santa Fe.
The project aims to reuse batteries from electric vehicles for energy storage for consumers to later use.
E&E News first reported on the DOE “hit list” on Friday. The projects on the list have been awarded funding under the Inflation Reduction Act, the bipartisan infrastructure law or through annual appropriations.
According to news reports, the projects on the list will be submitted to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Office of Management and Budget and could subsequently be canceled.
HEATED and Popular Information teamed up to look into some of the projects on that “hit list.” According to their reporting, one of the projects on the list is the Long-Duration Energy Storage Communities Accessing Resilient Energy Storage project, led by the company ReJoule.
ReJoule received $1 million in funding for phase one of a project that would repurpose used lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles. Those batteries would then be used in modular, energy storage systems that vary in size and use. Those systems would have the potential to support microgrids and electric storage as an alternative to fossil fuel-powered peaker plants.
The CARES project is supposed to be located in Santa Fe as well as in Red Lake Nation, Minn. and Petaluma, Calif.
According to the funding announcement from July, the $1 million award could be just the start and the project could have a total federal cost share of up to $10 million.
Phase 1 of the project is expected to last 12 to 16 months. During that time, ReJoule and its project team will plan activities related to budgeting, permitting, procurement and early development, according to the award announcement.
“New Mexico has incredible energy resources and a long history of partnering with the Department of Energy to advance transmission, storage, and clean energy production projects,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office said in a statement in response to a request for comment. “We expect the Department to honor the federal government’s commitments in existing contracts that invest critical funding for local and regional projects that benefit New Mexicans.”
