DOE Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program

DOE Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program

Offers tribal energy innovators through Department of Energy loan guarantees for project financing.

The DOE Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program (also referred to as TELGP or TEFP) is a federal financing instrument administered by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Dominance Financing (formerly the Loan Programs Office) that provides partial loan guarantees and direct loans to support energy development projects undertaken by federally recognized Indian Tribes. The program is authorized under Title XXVI of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (25 USC Section 3502(c)), with direct lending authority added by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 and the program made permanent by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The IRA also raised the aggregate loan guarantee authority to $20 billion. Individual project financing ranges from approximately $5,000,000 to $2,000,000,000, reflecting the capital-intensive nature of utility-scale energy infrastructure.

Eligible borrowers are federally recognized Tribes, Alaska Native villages, Alaska Native regional and village corporations, and Tribal Energy Development Organizations (TEDOs) — which may be jointly formed by multiple Tribes to apply as a single borrower. Projects must be at TRL 7 to 9 — commercially validated technologies approaching or at deployment readiness. Eligible energy sectors include conventional generation, renewable energy, grid infrastructure, and storage. A 2026 legislative change eliminated the prior Federal Support Restriction, which had historically prohibited TEFP borrowers from receiving certain other forms of federal financial support, significantly broadening the program's reach. No application fees are charged. A separate $50 million grants program for tribal energy (announced March 25, 2026, by DOE's Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs) is distinct from this LPO/EDF loan program.

Applicants begin with a pre-application consultation request submitted through energy.gov/EDF/Pre-App — a standard first step for all LPO/EDF financing programs. Given the scale of individual transactions and the requirement for commercially proven technology, successful applicants typically have a defined project site, secured land or rights-of-way, and a clear pathway to repayment from energy revenues or power purchase agreements. The elimination of the Federal Support Restriction now allows Tribal borrowers to layer TEFP financing with federal grants and other federal contracts, creating materially improved project economics for qualifying Tribal energy developers.