The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the termination of 321 financial awards that supported 223 projects, resulting in savings of about $7.56 billion for taxpayers. The decision followed a detailed financial review, which found that the projects did not sufficiently advance national energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on taxpayer investment.
The terminated awards were issued by several DOE offices, including the Offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Grid Deployment (GDO), Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC), Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), and Fossil Energy (FE).
“On day one, the Energy Department began the critical task of reviewing billions of dollars in financial awards, many rushed through in the final months of the Biden administration with inadequate documentation by any reasonable business standard,” Secretary Wright said. “President Trump promised to protect taxpayer dollars and expand America’s supply of affordable, reliable, and secure energy. Today’s cancellation’s deliver on that commitment. Rest assured, the Energy Department will continue reviewing awards to ensure that every dollar works for the American people.”
Of the awards terminated, 26% were made between Election Day and Inauguration Day, with those awards valued at over $3.1 billion.
In May 2025, Secretary Wright issued a memorandum called “Ensuring Responsibility for Financial Assistance.” This policy directed program offices to request more information from awardees and required that each award be reviewed individually to prevent waste, safeguard taxpayer funds, protect national security, and support the administration’s energy goals.
DOE used this process to evaluate the awards and determined that they did not meet standards for economic or energy security or national security. Award recipients have 30 days to appeal the termination decision, and some have already started that process.
