Jigar Shah: End DOE’s Loans/Grants Now!

Ed. Note: The author is a solar technologist and founder/CEO of SunDanzer, a free-market, off-grid solar company based in Tuscon, Arizona. Jigar Shah is director of the $400 billion Loan Programs Office in the U.S. Department of Energy.

Dear Jigar:

We both have a passion for solar and renewable energy to succeed in the marketplace, and we both have prodigy that will inherit the environment after we are gone. Leaving them a better place—ecologically, fiscally, and otherwise—is our North Star.

Massive annual budget deficits and record accumulated national debt are getting worse by the day. The annual deficit is now $1.8 trillion (FY 2024), despite a 11 percent increase in tax receipts. FY 2025 is shaping up to be worse. The accumulated debt of $36 trillion comes out to $107,000 per U.S. citizen and $272,000 per taxpayer. And by the time you read this, the debt will be tens of millions of dollars more (see US Debt Clock here).

The federal government’s futile, wasteful crusade against carbon dioxide (CO₂) is part of the deficit/debt problem. Rushing out taxpayer commitments to struggling companies spites the American people who voted for fiscal prudence in the recent election. Such desperation also compromises due diligence. “These actions raise significant concerns regarding the timing, integrity, and potential risk to taxpayers,” warned GreenMet in “Rushing the Clock.”

The expedited nature of these approvals appears politically motivated and carries implications that may have long-term ramifications. Although these loans may align with the administration’s energy policy objectives, the manner in which they are granted could undermine their intended purpose, ultimately exposing taxpayers to financial liabilities resulting from questionable decisions.

A recent special report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has questioned your program, stating:

There is tremendous risk to the taxpayer from the recent historic expansions of Department of Energy programs. [Different laws have] … provided the Department with an unprecedented $99 billion in new appropriations, $30.5 billion in new authorizations, and an enhanced loan authority of over $400 billion…. This almost half a trillion in authority is more than 23 times that of the LPO portfolio balance as of November 2021, when the IIJA was signed.

The companies being rescued are not healthy or they would not need government loans. Coming reform by the new Administration promises to remove or terminate the subsidies that these companies depend on to service their debt. This spells trouble and a legacy you want to leave for yourself or the next generation.

So please, I urge you to instruct the Loan Programs Office to stop making these loans. Resign, if necessary, and state in your resignation letter your concerns about federal spending and the peril of throwing good money after bad. Defer to Chris Wright, the presumtive new head of the Department of Energy, to wind down the agency toward privatization, transfer, and termination.

Free-market energy is the best path for consumers, taxpayers, and the economy. It is time for a new beginning now, not next month. Stop these loans!

– David Bergeron: CEO SunDanzer 

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