AILSA CHANG, HOST:
On Day 1 of the government shutdown, the Department of Energy canceled billions of dollars for Biden-era climate and energy projects. They say that the projects are wasteful. But as Colorado Public Radio's Ishan Thakore reports, recipients say the cuts are shortsighted.
HANK PRICE: Go ahead and walk out here.
ISHAN THAKORE, BYLINE: Yeah.
PRICE: It's more interesting once we get out...
THAKORE: In a grassy field near the Denver Airport, Hank Price is showing off a massive, roughly three-story collection of curved mirrors. It's called the SunBeam, and it's a demo for a technology called concentrating solar power.
PRICE: This is a low-cost way of making solar power at night.
THAKORE: Price says the SunBeam is different from your average solar farm. It uses the sun to generate heat, which can be stored to make electricity later, even after dark.
PRICE: You can design power plants that collect energy during the day and produce power just at night or produce power 24 hours a day.
THAKORE: Price's company, Solar Dynamics, has had contracts with the federal government for years, including during the first Trump administration. But in early October, the Department of Energy canceled two of his biggest grants. That's a huge hit for his business.
PRICE: I think it's very likely we'll shut down, unfortunately. Unless something changes...
THAKORE: ...Price and his 10 employees are probably out of a job. Their projects are among the 223 across the country that the DOE says it's canceled. Those included everything from building major new transmission lines to research on newer technologies like carbon capture. Most were approved during the Biden administration. Many were funded by major climate legislation or the bipartisan infrastructure law. The DOE did not respond to questions for this story, but in a press release, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the projects do not, quote, "adequately advance America's energy needs." Here's Wright on CNN.
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CHRIS WRIGHT: These decisions are made - business decisions - on whether it's a good use of the taxpayer money or not.
THAKORE: Hank Price disagrees.
PRICE: We see this as providing a reliable, affordable, dispatchable domestic energy source. How's that not supporting America's energy needs?
THAKORE: Ken Gillingham is an economics professor at the Yale School of the Environment. He said government grants like these support innovations that may later become widely successful.
KEN GILLINGHAM: The whole point is to find technologies that are not commercially viable now and give them the support they need to become commercially viable.
THAKORE: Not all of the projects would have worked out, Gillingham says, but U.S. government funding has led to huge breakthroughs, like the first nuclear reactor. Some canceled grant recipients say their projects are well aligned with the Trump administration's goals, like supporting fossil fuel production. Dan Zimmerle runs a center at Colorado State University. It helps oil and gas companies cut their pollution.
DAN ZIMMERLE: We work every day with oil and gas operators, and they're getting value from that.
THAKORE: His team helps companies find natural gas leaks, which helps the environment and their bottom line. But he was informed his center's main funding was cut, apparently because of a change in priorities. That's a first, he says.
ZIMMERLE: It's now 14 years of working with the Department of Energy on projects, through multiple administration changes.
THAKORE: Recipients like Zimmerle and Price are now scrambling to make up the funding. They have a short window to appeal their cancellations. Back outside Denver, Price and his co-founder say giving up on projects like theirs - it means countries like China will fill the void.
PRICE: America really has been a world leader in technology, and now we just give up. We're throwing it all away, you know? That's unfortunate.
THAKORE: Building the company, though? They said it's been a heck of a ride. For NPR News, I'm Ishan Thakore in Watkins, Colorado.
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