§ 609.10 Project costs.
(a) The Project Costs of an Eligible Project are those costs, including escalation and contingencies, that are expended or accrued by a Borrower and are necessary, reasonable, customary, and directly related to the design, engineering, financing, construction, startup, commissioning, and shakedown of an Eligible Project.
(b) Project Costs include:
(1) Costs of acquisition, lease, or rental of real property, including engineering fees, surveys, title insurance, recording fees, and legal fees incurred in connection with land acquisition, lease or rental, site improvements, site restoration, access roads, and fencing;
(2) Costs of engineering, architectural, legal and bond fees, and insurance paid in connection with construction of the facility;
(3) Costs of equipment purchases, including a reasonable reserve of spare parts to the extent required;
(4) Costs to provide facilities and services related to safety and environmental protection;
(5) Transaction Costs;
(6) Costs of necessary and appropriate insurance and bonds of all types including letters of credit and any collateral required therefor;
(7) Costs of design, engineering, startup, commissioning, and shakedown;
(8) Costs of obtaining licenses to intellectual property necessary to design, construct, and operate the Eligible Project;
(9) To the extent required by the Loan Guarantee Agreement and not intended or available for any cost referred to in paragraph (d) of this section, costs of funding any reserve fund, including without limitation, a debt service reserve, a maintenance reserve, and a contingency reserve for cost overruns during construction; provided that proceeds of a Guaranteed Obligation deposited to any reserve fund shall not be removed from such fund except to pay Project Costs, to pay principal of the Guaranteed Obligation, or otherwise to be used as provided in the Loan Guarantee Agreement;
(10) Capitalized interest necessary to meet market requirements and other carrying costs during construction;
(11) In DOE's sole discretion, the cost of refinancing outstanding indebtedness that is directly associated with the Eligible Project, including the principal amount of such indebtedness, accrued interest thereon, and any reasonable and customary prepayment premium or breakage costs; provided that DOE determines that the refinancing furthers the purpose of the Eligible Project.
(12) With respect to Energy Dominance Financing Projects, the cost of remediation of environmental damage associated with the Energy Infrastructure; and
(13) Other necessary and reasonable costs, including, without limitation, previously acquired real estate, equipment, or other materials, costs of interconnection, and any engineering, construction, make-ready, design, permitting, or other work completed on an existing facility or project;
(c) Where a Project consists of the financing and installation of a series of distributed energy resources, DOE may deem the eligible Project Costs to consist of the reasonable and documented costs incurred by the end-user of each distributed energy resource in connection with the contractual agreement between the end-user and the Project Sponsor or its agent, provided that:
(1) DOE is able to validate such reasonable and documented costs through standard customer contracts and standard distributed energy resource system attributes; and
(2) The Borrower institutes a compliance system satisfactory to DOE to ensure that each distributed energy resource supported by a Guarantee complies with any eligibility criteria required by DOE, including with respect to approved customer contracts and approved distributed energy resource systems.
(d) Project Costs do not include:
(1) Fees and commissions charged to Borrower, including finder's fees, for obtaining Federal or other funds;
(2) Parent corporation or other affiliated entity's general and administrative expenses, and non-Eligible Project related parent corporation or affiliated entity assessments, including organizational expenses;
(3) Goodwill, franchise, trade, or brand name costs;
(4) Dividends and profit sharing to stockholders, employees, and officers;
(5) Research, development, and demonstration costs of readying an innovative technology for employment in a commercial project;
(6) Costs that are excessive or are not directly required to carry out the Eligible Project, as determined by DOE;
(7) Expenses incurred after startup, commissioning, and shakedown of the facility, or, in DOE's discretion, any portion of the facility that has completed startup, commissioning, and shakedown;
(8) Borrower-paid Credit Subsidy Costs, the Administrative Cost of a Loan Guarantee, and any other fee collected by DOE; and
(9) Operating costs.
(e) Costs incurred in connection with an Eligible Project may be subject to such other criteria for inclusion as Project Costs as published by DOE from time to time in guidance on the Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program website pursuant to § 609.19.
[88 FR 34428, May 30, 2023, as amended at 90 FR 48710, Oct. 28, 2025]