PG&E has applied for a roughly $7 billion dollar federal loan to fund its ambitious plans to reduce California wildfire risk by burying power lines and upgrading the electric grid, company executives said, the Wall Street Journal reported. The California utility was invited to apply for funding from the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office, which finances critical energy projects tied to the shift away from fossil fuels. If approved, that amount would rank among the largest-ever loans for the office. It recently committed a record $9.2 billion to a Ford Motor joint venture making electric-car batteries. A General Motors battery venture struck a deal with the office last year for a $2.5 billion loan. PG&E hopes to use the loan to help fund the burial of 10,000 miles of power lines in regions at high risk of fire, Chief Executive Patti Poppe said in an interview. Other potential uses include replacing overloaded transmission conductors that carry power and upgrading substations. Last year’s climate law increased the loan office’s lending capacity roughly 10-fold to about $400 billion and created a new category of loans for upgrading energy infrastructure. The funding would be a boon for Oakland, Calif.-based PG&E, which faces challenges raising money from Wall Street after a complex bankruptcy restructuring. The company is preparing for a surge in electricity demand driven by the state’s shift to electric vehicles.
