WEC Energy Offered $2.5 Billion US Loan for Renewable Projects

(Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration is offering WEC Energy Group Inc.’s Wisconsin subsidiary as much as $2.5 billion in financing for the construction of renewable power and battery storage projects. 

The Energy Department’s conditional loan guarantee to Wisconsin Electric Power Co. would be used to fund the addition of more than 1,650 megawatts of utility-scale projects that are expected to include wind, solar, energy storage and hydropower. The financing, through the department’s Loan Programs Office, is still subject to additional requirements before being finalized, and could be halted by the incoming Trump administration if not finalized before his inauguration on Jan. 20.

“If our agreement is finalized, this program is expected to allow Wisconsin Electric to finance new renewable energy projects at lower interest rates than traditional capital market financing,” the company said Friday in an emailed statement. “The benefits of the lower financing would all go to the Wisconsin customers.”

The funding, which is being approved on a project-by-project basis, is being anchored by the rehabilitation of WEPCO’s Big Quinnesec Falls hydroelectric plant near Iron Mountain, Michigan. That facility’s first plant was built in 1914, according to the utility’s website. Wisconsin Electric is the state’s largest electric utility, with about 1.2 million customers.

The loan comes when electric utilities are investing a record amount of capital to upgrade their aging grids and build renewable plants to replace retiring fossil fuel generators. WEC Energy Group plans to invest $9.1 billion through 2029 to build solar, wind and energy storage, more than quadrupling its carbon-free generation. The utility owner also aims to phase out its coal generation fleet by 2032.

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