The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has announced a conditional commitment for a $259 million loan to Alcoa, headquartered in Pittsburgh and New York City. The conditional commitment is the first issued by the DoE under its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program since DoE Secretary Ernest Moniz announced changes to the program in 2014 and is considered the first step toward issuing a final loan to Alcoa.
If finalized, the Alcoa loan would support the company’s Alcoa, Tennessee, rolling mill, where the company will produce high-strength aluminum for North American automakers seeking to reduce vehicle weight. The Tennessee smelter has not operated since 2009.
“The Department’s ATVM loan program can play an important role in helping to finance expanded domestic manufacturing of fuel-efficient technologies that will support the next generation of advanced vehicles and protect the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” says Secretary Moniz. “To date, the program has supported the production of millions of American-made cars that are more fuel efficient and technologically advanced than previous models.”
“Alcoa’s innovative, high-strength aluminum solutions are leading the lightweighting revolution now happening in the automotive industry,” says Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa chairman and CEO. “Alcoa is pleased to be part of the government’s program to encourage a greater shift to aluminum-intensive vehicles that are safer, lighter and more fuel-efficient.”
The plant’s expansion would, several years into the future, send more aluminum sheet components into the automotive recycling stream.
The ATVM loan program enables the domestic manufacturing of advanced technology vehicles and components. To date, the Department’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) has issued more than $8 billion in direct loans that supported the production of more than 9 million cars and about 35,000 direct jobs in eight states.