Ten Common Misconceptions About DOE Energy Dominance Financing

For nearly two decades, the Department of Energy's Energy Dominance Financing Office, or EDF (previously the Loan Programs Office), has served as the federal government’s premier project finance organization for deploying innovative energy and industrial technologies. More than simply another government funding program, EDF pioneered the use of sophisticated project finance techniques to bridge the gap between emerging technologies and commercial-scale deployment.

Despite EDF’s long history, many companies continue to misunderstand how it operates. Much of this confusion stems from the fact that executives often approach the program through the lens of prior experience pursuing federal grants, rather than project financing. EDF is fundamentally different — it is a commercial lending program, not a grant program — and many assumptions that apply to traditional federal assistance simply do not apply here.