[USA] DOE Secretary Chris Wright terminates 24 Biden-era clean energy projects worth $3 billion

As of May 30, 2025, the US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced the termination of 24 awards that were issued by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) under the Biden administration, totaling $3.7 billion. [1] The projects primarily included funding for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) as well as decarbonization. [2] Sixteen of the 24 terminated awards were signed between November and January 20. The awards were cancelled under a review process that the Department of Energy (DOE) released earlier in May 2025, under which 179 awards worth $15 billion were being reviewed. The review process was outlined in a Secretarial Memorandum entitled “Ensuring Responsibility for Financial Assistance”, which illustrated DOE’s policy for evaluating financial assistance on a case-by-case basis. Among the recipients of the cancelled awards are Calpine, Ørsted, PPL Corp., and Exxon Mobil Corp.

[1] https://www.energy.gov/articles/secretary-wright-announces-termination-24-projects-generating-over-3-billion-taxpayer

[2] https://www.energy.gov/articles/secretary-wright-announces-new-policy-increasing-accountability-identifying-wasteful