Nixed Solar Grant Opportunity Cost $500,000, Drawing Hill Scrutiny (1)

The Energy Department spent nearly $500,000 to review 300 applications from energy companies, national labs, and universities competing for $46 million in solar energy research grants from April to August—all for naught.

On Aug. 31, under the leadership of Cathy Tripodi, acting assistant secretary of the department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and a Trump administration appointee, the $46 million funding opportunity was canceled right before career-level staff were going to select the grant recipients, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

The department confirmed that approximately $80,000 was spent paying the external, ...