AEA warns multiple federal energy grants are paused, putting projects on hold

Multiple federal energy grant programs Alaska expected to use for projects and programs are currently on pause or under suspension pending federal guidance, Alaska Energy Authority officials told the House Energy Committee on Feb. 13.

Curtis Thayer, executive director of the Alaska Energy Authority, said a conditional award for home energy and appliance rebates was received in January but is "on pause" pending federal guidance: "This is 1 of those instances where rather than us develop a program, let's modify a program that they have and use those synergies," Thayer said. He added, "there's no match required on this these fundings. But 1 thing is this also, has been placed on pause by the Trump White House. And so this project, we're right now pausing until we have guidance."

Thayer listed other federal programs affected: a Solar for All award received April 2024 for roughly $62,000,000 in partnership with Alaska Housing Finance is on hold; the Grid Resilience Formula Grant (a formula allocation of about $60,000,000 to Alaska) was described as paused even though AEA had earlier awarded approximately $20,000,000 to Golden Valley for three projects. "That funding was put on hold," Thayer said. He said AEA has a signed grant agreement in some instances but the federal government has temporarily suspended activity on the awards.

On the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, Thayer said Alaska—s $52,000,000 formula allocation also is not currently active; the Federal review is suspended and decisions are expected later in the summer. "We don't we won't have guidance until late this summer of what they're gonna do next with that program," he said, noting countrywide approvals have been slow.

Thayer told the committee a separate defense-community infrastructure grant for the Black Rapids training site (near Fairbanks) to extend transmission roughly 35 miles remains active because it is administered through the Department of Transportation and does not require a state match. He said that Black Rapids project estimated transmission construction cost was approximately $15,700,000 and remained unaffected by the federal pauses.

The effect on Alaska includes delayed implementation timelines for projects that had advanced to conditional awards or grant agreements, uncertainty about matching schedules and possible cost escalation if projects are delayed. AEA recommended continuing limited engineering and early procurement in some paused projects where state match funds were already appropriated in order to avoid losing construction seasons.

Ending note: AEA said it will update the legislature when federal guidance arrives and provided examples of which projects it considers paused versus still active under different federal administrations.