US ‘clean energy’ loan for Australian plant in Louisiana

VIDALIA, La. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy says it plans to lend up to $107 million to expand an Australian-owned plant that produces materials for electric car batteries in Louisiana. The loan to Syrah Technologies LLC would be the Biden administration’s second clean energy loan. The Energy Department said Monday that if it becomes final, the loan would reactivate a program used during the Obama administration to lend money to auto manufacturers. The department says this would be the program’s first use for a supply chain project. Syrah’s plant is in Vidalia, a city of 4,000 on the Mississippi River about 100 miles north of Baton Rouge.