§ 18715 — Transmission Facility Financing

(a) In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated to the Secretary for fiscal year 2022, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $2,000,000,000, to remain available through September 30, 2030, to carry out this section: Provided, That the Secretary shall not enter into any loan agreement pursuant to this section that could result in disbursements after September 30, 2031. (b) The Secretary shall use the amounts made available by subsection (a) to carry out a program to pay the costs of direct loans to non-Federal borrowers, subject to the limitations that apply to loan guarantees under section 50141(d) and under such terms and conditions as the Secretary determines to be appropriate, for the construction or modification of electric transmission facilities designated by the Secretary to be necessary in the national interest under section 824p(a) of title 16. (c) A direct loan provided under this section— (1) shall have a term that does not exceed the lesser of— (A) 90 percent of the projected useful life, in years, of the eligible transmission facility; and (B) 30 years; (2) shall not exceed 80 percent of the project costs; and (3) shall, on first issuance, be subject to the condition that the direct loan is not subordinate to other financing. (d) A direct loan provided under this section shall bear interest at a rate determined by the Secretary, taking into consideration market yields on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States of comparable maturities as of the date on which the direct loan is made. (e) In this section, the term “direct loan” has the meaning given the term in section 661a of title 2.