Biden Budget Accelerates Clean Energy in the Power Sector

In his FY 2022 Federal Budget, President Biden proposes key steps to grow clean energy in the power sector and strengthen the communities that have historically powered America.

These investments will create and sustain good-paying jobs building more clean energy resources all across the country. As the White House has explained, moving forward with clean energy and beneficial electrification “represents one of the biggest job creation and economic opportunity engines of the 21^st Century.”

The investments in the President’s Budget complement the investments proposed in the American Jobs Plan. Here’s a summary of some of the most important elements of the proposed budget.

• Loan guarantees to rural electric coops. Biden proposes $6.5 billion (a $1 billion increase) in loan authority to help rural cooperatives build out clean energy, to give cooperatives the financial flexibility to transition to clean energy, and to make investments in transmission and energy efficiency.
• Expand Department of Energy investments in offshore wind, solar, geothermal and domestic clean energy manufacturing. The proposed 2 billion increase would fund Build Back Better Challenge Grants, clean energy manufacturing centers and a fund for clean energy demonstrations.
• Increase funding for Department of the Interior for siting of onshore and offshore renewable energy projects.
• Expands funding for energy efficiency retrofits in homes and federal buildings. This $1.7 billion investment will tap into one of the most cost-effective ways to cut carbon pollution from the power sector and save money.
• Doubles funding for job creation and economic revitalization in communities that have lost jobs related to the power sector. In recent years (including during the Trump Administration) the power sector has continued to shift away from coal and these job losses have hit many communities hard. Similarly, the drop in oil prices led to significant job losses in the oil and gas sector. President Biden’s budget would invest $2 billion in rebuilding jobs in these communities such as through investments in the Appalachian Region and through investments in cleaning up abandoned mines, remediating Department of Interior lands and properly closing orphaned wells and abandoned mines.  
• Increases funding for Innovation. The Budget would invest over $10 billion in innovation, research and development on clean energy. This 30 percent funding increase includes key funding for innovation that will advance clean energy in the power sector, like research into advanced energy efficiency technologies and innovative renewable energy technologies, and a fund to help with demonstration of new clean energy designs. These investments are key to ensure that we keep advancing the suite of clean energy technologies needed to fully decarbonize our economy at the lowest possible cost.

Today producing electricity is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, representing 25 percent of the total U.S. carbon footprint. President Biden's budget takes important steps in the direction of the clean electricity future we all want to see. In combination with strong standards and the investments proposed in the American Jobs Plan, we are confident that we will be able to transition our power sector to clean energy and our whole nation to a healthier and more prosperous future.