New EEI Podcast Features DOE Office of Energy Dominance Financing Director Gregory A. Beard

New EEI Podcast Features DOE Office of Energy Dominance Financing Director Gregory A. Beard

New EEI Podcast Features DOE Office of Energy Dominance Financing Director Gregory A. Beard

Director Beard: "We Are Super Focused on Affordability" as DOE Accelerates Grid Investments​

WASHINGTON (May 13, 2026) - The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) today released a new episode of its Electric Perspectives podcast featuring Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) Director Gregory A. Beard. He discussed the office's role as DOE's implementation arm for large-scale energy financing, including its focus on accelerating grid modernization, supporting new generation, and improving affordability, reliability, and energy security.

The full episode is available at: https://www.electricperspectives.com/podcast

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Key moments from the conversation:

Director Beard emphasized EDF's focus on speed, scale, and measurable customer benefits when evaluating projects:

"Come to us with projects that are ready to go, where the capital can be invested in the next three years, where we can actually measure the impact for the ratepayer. I will tell you that we will be quick and we will work at the pace of the borrower, which means we can have these loans committed in months, not years."

He added that affordability is central to every investment decision:

"But in every case, we are super focused on affordability. Every dollar will have that as part of the criteria for deployment."

EDF was created with approximately $300 billion in federal financing authority to support critical energy infrastructure projects. According to Director Beard, the office already has deployed roughly $60 billion and continues to advance additional lending activity:

"In his first days in office, President Trump declared that we have an energy crisis and an emergency. He chose Secretary Wright to lead the DOE because the policies that Secretary Wright is now deploying are making energy more affordable for the U.S., making the grid more reliable, helping us win AI, and that's giving us energy security, which is national security."

Looking ahead, Director Beard discussed continued investment in major grid and generation projects, including transmission upgrades, new generation, and work to extend the life of existing energy infrastructure:

"The pace that we will deploy the additional capital-we've got about $75 billion left to lend to utilities to help with additional generation, to do reconductoring, and to help keep assets online that would otherwise need to be decommissioned. We expect to have that capital deployed or committed over the next 12 months."

The episode also covers DOE's approach to supporting nuclear energy, including restarting or expanding large existing nuclear plants and using financing tools that reduce risk for private investors and utilities. He highlighted growing interest in new financing and partnership models to support advanced nuclear projects.

"We believe that the hyperscalers will be willing to use their balance sheets in the form of long-term power purchase agreements. We think that will happen at prices that will make this program and these projects economic for both equity investors and the sponsoring utilities, and beneficial to ratepayers. So this is a big push that we're embarking on now, and we think we'll have announcements in the coming months."

Read more excerpts from the interview or listen to the full interview here.

About Electric Perspectives

Electric Perspectives is a podcast from the Edison Electric Institute featuring conversations with policymakers and industry leaders on the most pressing issues facing the energy sector. Listen to more episodes at electricperspectives.com/podcast.