On May 30, 2023, the Department of Energy (“DOE”) issued an interim final rule (“IFR”) amending the regulations implementing the loan guarantee provisions in Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (“Title XVII”) to implement provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) that expand or modify the authorities applicable to the Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program. Specifically, the May 30 IFR (1) establishes regulations necessary to implement the Energy Implementation Reinvestment (“EIR”) Program and other categories of projects authorized by the IRA for Title XVII loan guarantees; (2) revises provisions directly related to DOE's implementation of the Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program as expanded by the IRA; (3) amends provisions to conform with the broader changes to the Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program; and (4) revises certain sections for clarity and organization.
IRA appropriates approximately $8.6 billion in credit subsidy and provides loan authority of up to $290 billion in total principal total for the DOE's Loan Programs Office (“LPO”) programs administered under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The loan authority and related appropriations are available through September 30, 2026. This relatively short period of authority has spurred DOE to issue an interim final rule to provide the opportunity for all eligible projects to seek loan guarantees under the new IRA provisions.
This interim final rule is effective as of May 30, 2023. However, DOE will accept comments, data, and information regarding this interim final rule until July 31, 2023.