Though the 2nd Trump Administration has dramatically turned away from the energy and industrial policies of the Biden Administration, private-sector proponents of advanced energy projects may still find opportunities to partner with the federal government on certain Research and Development (R&D) or commercialization projects in the energy sector.
Since January 2025, nearly all corners of the federal government have sought to terminate federal grants, loans, and contracts that the Trump Administration has determined are out of step with the government’s revised priorities (such as in the case of various clean energy focused programs or decarbonization initiatives). Nonetheless, federal agencies have also announced new initiatives providing both financial and non-financial benefits for energy projects that the Trump Administration continues to support. In particular, there are significant opportunities available for developers of nuclear energy, critical minerals, and geothermal projects, as detailed further below.
Critical Minerals. The Department of Energy made an announcement on August 13, 2025 concerning several notices of intents for funding opportunities totaling approximately $1 billion for projects that promote critical mineral and material supply chain security. This funding includes $50 million in grants and cooperative agreements to prototype and pilot innovative critical materials processing technologies, $250 million for industrial facilities that have the potential to produce valuable mineral byproducts from existing industrial processes, $135 million for rare earth element projects, $500 million to expand critical mineral and materials processing and derivative battery manufacturing and recycling, and a $40 million program to develop technologies to recover critical minerals from industrial wastewater.
Additionally, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (“OBBBA”) made various changes to the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (“LPO”) that indicate some continued support for critical minerals projects despite a broad retrenchment for the LPO in general. In the main, OBBBA repealed most unobligated funds available to the LPO. However, OBBBA appropriated an additional $1 billion to support a reformed-version of LPO’s Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) Financing program with a broader ability to finance critical mineral projects.
Previously, the EIR allowed LPO to finance projects that retool or repower retired or aging “energy infrastructure”—essentially fossil fuel power plants and related infrastructure—by either upgrading such infrastructure so it can restart or operate more efficiently, or replacing such infrastructure with clean energy infrastructure. Now, OBBBA redefined eligible projects under the EIR program, such that they are no longer required to avoid or reduce air pollution or greenhouse gas emissions; instead they must now increase the capacity and output of “energy infrastructure” and support “the provision of known or forecastable electric supply at time intervals necessary to maintain or enhance grid reliability or other system adequacy needs.” This language concerning reliability appears intended to limit EIR’s ability to finance intermittent or lower capacity forms of energy, such as wind and solar. OBBBA also scraps an EIR requirement that any fossil fuel projects must utilize control or technologies to avoid, reduce, utilize or sequester air pollutants and greenhouse gases and modifies the definition of eligible “energy infrastructure” under the EIR program—broadening it beyond fossil fuel infrastructure to also include critical mineral facilities.
The OBBBA further eliminates a statutory requirement that applications for loan guarantees under the EIR program include “an analysis of how the proposed project will engage with and affect associated communities.” This statutory revision of the application components for the EIR program reflect a broader policy shift from the Biden Administration, which promoted the use of “Community Benefit Plans” as part of grant and loan applications, to the Trump Administration, which has sought to end similar initiatives and argued they are “illegal” diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Nuclear Energy. As with critical minerals, the Department of Energy has announced continued support and investment in advanced nuclear energy initiatives. For instance, on August 12, 2025, DOE launched the Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program, which will involve partnerships between DOE and 11 advanced reactor projects with the goal “to construct, operate, and achieve criticality of at least three test reactors using the DOE authorization process by July 4, 2026.” As noted by DOE, the “goal of the Reactor Pilot Program is to expedite the testing of advanced reactor designs that will be authorized by the Department at sites that are located outside of the national laboratories,” and not to provide financial assistance. However, expedited commercial licensing under the program may provide significant go-to-market benefits for the underlying reactor technologies.
Further, on August 26, 2025, DOE announced conditional commitments to provide high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) to three U.S. companies to meet near-term fuel needs. This is the second round of HALEU allocations made by DOE this year, under a program intended to “support the testing of two advanced reactor designs and jumpstart a new domestic advanced fuel line to unleash an American nuclear energy renaissance.” Access to HALEU supply fills a critical industry gap, as “HALEU is not currently available from domestic suppliers and many advanced reactors need the material to achieve smaller designs, longer operating cycles, and increased efficiencies over current technologies.”
Geothermal. Consistent with the Trump Administration’s broader focus on reliable sources of energy, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) within the Department of Defense (DoD) announced on August 12, 2025 that it is working to support installations of new geothermal technologies across military installations. The purpose of these geothermal installations is to utilize DIU’s Other Transaction Authority “to de-risk geothermal development and catalyze geothermal power plant construction across DoD installations to provide round-the-clock power—a critical need as DoD installations and our national electrical grids face growing threats from wildfires, extreme weather, cyberattacks, power storages, and other disruptions.” Notably, the DoD announcement regarding geothermal energy appears to build on a Biden-era initiative to support geothermal development at DoD facilities.