The Department of Energy said it has finalized a $1.6 billion loan guarantee to a subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest power companies to upgrade nearly 5,000 miles of transmission lines across five states for largely fossil fuel-run energy.
The Department of Energy said Thursday it has finalized a $1.6 billion loan guarantee to a subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest power companies to upgrade nearly 5,000 miles of transmission lines across five states, mostly in the Midwest, for largely fossil fuel-run energy.
AEP Transmission will upgrade power lines in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma and West Virginia to enhance enhance grid reliability and capacity, the Energy Department said. The project is meant to help meet surging electricity demand from data centers and artificial intelligence.
Ohio-based American Electric Power, which owns AEP Transmission, is one of the nation’s largest utilities, serving 5.6 million customers in 11 states. It primarily produces electricity from coal, natural gas and nuclear power, along with renewable resources such as wind and hydroelectric power.
Thursday’s announcement deepens the Trump administration’s commitment to traditional, polluting energy sources even as it works to discourage the U.S. from clean energy use.
Earlier this month, the administration cancelled $7.6 billion in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election. A total of 223 projects were terminated after a review determined they did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs or were not economically viable, the Energy Department said.
