$2.2 Billion for U.S. Grid to Lower Costs, Protect Against Extreme Weather, Prepare For Growing Demand

Join daily news updates from CleanTechnica on electronic mail. Or follow us on Google News!

Initiatives Funded by the Investing in America Agenda Will Add Practically 13 GW of Capability to Assist Elevated Manufacturing, Information Facilities, And Renewable Energy Whereas Catalyzing Practically $10 Billion In Public-Personal Investments, and Creating 1000’s of Jobs

RALEIGH, N.C. — In assist of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Division of Power (DOE) in the present day introduced a $2.2 billion funding within the nation’s grid for eight initiatives throughout 18 states to guard towards rising threats of maximum climate occasions, decrease prices for communities, and catalyze extra grid capability to fulfill load development stemming from a rise in manufacturing and knowledge facilities. Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Programthe initiatives chosen in the present day will catalyze almost $10 billion in complete private and non-private funding to deliver dependable, reasonably priced, clear power to People. This deployment of recent, progressive transmission infrastructure and know-how upgrades to the present grid will add almost 13 gigawatts (GW) of grid capability—together with 4,800 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind—permitting extra clear energy to achieve prospects throughout the nation. These initiatives will create a minimum of 5,000 good-paying jobs and improve greater than 1,000 miles of transmission in complete.

“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,” stated U.S. Secretary of Power 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 household, and support the ongoing manufacturing boom—all while creating thousands of local jobs.”

“In order to reach President Biden and Vice President Harris’ climate and clean energy goals, we need a bigger, smarter, more resilient grid,” stated John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for Worldwide Local weather Coverage. “Today’s awards are bringing us closer to our clean energy future by building out transmission and upgrading grid infrastructure from North Carolina to California.”

“Under President Biden and Vice President Harris’s leadership, the United States is leading an unprecedented expansion in the capacity of the existing U.S. transmission network, which will further catalyze our work to deliver reliable, affordable power across the country,” stated White Home Nationwide Local weather Advisor Ali Zaidi. “As we build out the nation’s power grid to keep pace with historic manufacturing and clean energy growth, we are doing so by harnessing innovative technologies to lower energy costs, create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, and take on the climate crisis. The investments we are making today will enhance the strength and resilience of our grid, especially in the face of more climate-fueled extreme weather events like wildfires, flooding, and extreme heat.”

A part of DOE’s Building a Better Grid Initiative and licensed by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation, the GRIP Program funding represents the federal authorities’s single largest direct funding into crucial grid infrastructure – a part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic actions to get grid updates funded, allowing, and deployed throughout the nation. Immediately’s picks are made by Grid Innovation Program grantsone in all three GRIP funding mechanisms, that search to deploy initiatives that use progressive approaches to transmission, storage, and distribution infrastructure to reinforce grid resilience and reliability.

Throughout the 8 initiatives, over $300 million shall be invested in group workforce improvement, scholarships and apprentice packages, in addition to grants to group organizations. GRIP initiatives additionally embody methods to make sure significant group and labor engagement and high quality. Six of eight GRIP initiatives will make the most of native partnerships with labor unions, a minimum of 5 of which can associate with native chapters of the Worldwide Brotherhood of Electrical Employees (IBEW).

The total listing of initiatives is on the market online.

Chosen initiatives will leverage:

• Revolutionary transmission infrastructure to enhance grid resilience and reliability and combine extra clear power to the grid.
  • Two initiatives will deploy massive new transmission traces: Clear Path New York (New York Energy Authority) and North Plains Connector (Montana Division of Commerce). The 2 traces, totaling about 625 miles, will improve grid capability by about 4,300 MW by deploying excessive voltage, direct present (HVDC) know-how, amongst different issues.
    • Clear Path New York will deploy HVDC cables underground and underwater to reduce right-of-way impacts that may be related to large-scale transmission initiatives.
    • The North Plains Connector challenge, headed by the Montana Division of Commerce in partnership with the North Dakota Transmission Authority will improve interregional switch capability and supply instantaneous change of route in electrical energy flows to assist the jap or western grid when required, bettering resilience and reliability. The challenge may also allow the event of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s wind sources.
• Superior know-how upgrades to deploy progressive grid applied sciences together with superior conductors, dynamic line scores, microgrids, and superior distribution administration techniques to extend grid capability utilizing current rights of method.
  • Six initiatives will implement progressive applied sciences on the present electrical grid, rising grid capability and reworking grid operations.
  • Three initiatives will deploy superior conductors at scale to improve about 400 miles of current transmission traces.
  • Three initiatives will deploy dynamic line ranking, a grid-enhancing know-how that may improve system utilization by enabling transmission traces to extend energy circulate whereas nonetheless working safely.
  • The Biden-Harris Administration is catalyzing nationwide collaboration on deploying these trendy grid applied sciences, together with by a Federal-State Trendy Grid Deployment Initiative.
• Federal, interstate, and personal sector collaboration to reveal progressive collaborations and partnerships, notably throughout states and with the personal sector.
  • The RELIEF challenge–headed by the Utah Workplace of Power Improvement in collaboration with the states of Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, and Wyoming, in addition to the California Impartial System Operator—will tackle system contingency points and stop over 5,500 hours of potential outages for 700,000 utility prospects in 5 states.
  • The Energy Up New England challenge headed by the Massachusetts Division of Power Sources is a collaboration with the states of Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The challenge will scale back wholesale power provide prices for New England prospects by about $1.55 billion and create new offshore wind interconnections in Massachusetts and in Connecticut, which—along with enabling 4,800 MW of offshore wind.

The Investing in America agenda is offering the biggest electrical grid infrastructure funding in historical past to strengthen America’s energy grid whereas reducing power prices and creating good-paying jobs. Below the Biden-Harris Administration’s management, the U.S. is projected to construct more new electric generation capacity this year than in two decades whereas additionally mobilizing to improve 1000’s of miles of current transmission traces. This contains catalyzing nationwide collaboration on trendy grid applied sciences and funding their deployment, accelerating transmission allowing, and rising grid capability to assist electrical energy demand to assist elevated electrification, knowledge facilities, and manufacturing.

Along with the Grid Innovation Program, the GRIP Program contains two extra funding mechanisms: Grid Resilience Utility and Industry Grants that present funding to the personal sector to strengthen and modernize America’s energy grid towards wildfires, excessive climate, and different disruptive occasions which are exacerbated by the consequences of local weather change, with a give attention to grid hardening efforts; and Smart Grid Grants fund know-how investments that may improve how a lot energy the grid can deal with; stop faults which will result in wildfires or different system disturbances, combine extra renewable power; and facilitate the mixing of electrified autos, buildings, and different gadgets. The second spherical of picks for GRIP’s the Grid Resilience Utility and Business Grants and the Good Grid Grants shall be introduced later this yr.

Study extra in regards to the Grid Deployment Office.

Courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy.