The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is set to invest $2.2 billion in the nation’s grid for eight projects across 18 states, with the aim of protecting the infrastructure against extreme weather threats, lowering costs for communities, and catalyzing additional grid capacity to meet load growth.
Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program, the selected projects are slated to deploy upgrades to the existing grid that would add 13 GW of grid capacity.
“The first half of 2024 has already broken records for the hottest days in Earth’s history, and as extreme weather continues to hit every part of the country, we must act with urgency to strengthen our aging grid to protect American communities,” says U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
“The Biden-Harris administration is investing in the most crucial component of the nation’s infrastructure, expanding and hardening the grid to allow more resilient, clean power to reach more households and support the ongoing manufacturing boom, all while creating thousands of local jobs.”
In addition to the Grid Innovation Program, the partnership program provides funding to the private sector to strengthen and modernize the domestic power grid against wildfires, extreme weather, and other disruptive events that are exacerbated by the effects of climate change.
There is a particular focus on grid hardening efforts and Smart Grid Grants fund technology investments that will increase how much power the grid can handle, prevent faults that may lead to wildfires or other system disturbances, integrate more renewable energy and facilitate the integration of electrified vehicles, buildings and other devices.
Grid capacity and resiliency is exactly what we need with more interconnections for Renewable Energy projects; and new transmission lines on existing towers that more than double capacity.