Florida Gets $29 Million Boost to Help Grid in Extreme Weather

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I grew up in Florida and lived right here by way of school. Then I moved away for about 14 years. Then I moved again about 6 years in the past. In brief, I’ve lived right here for roughly 3 a long time. We went by way of some hurricanes once I was youthful, and have been actually threatened by many hurricanes, however Hurricane Ian two years in the past and Hurricane Milton this yr have been the most important hurricanes I’ve gone by way of. My neighborhood in the mean time seems like a brand new development web site due to all of the roof work being executed due to the harm from Milton, and we simply had our personal new roof placed on a pair days in the past. Whereas I’ve to say I used to be fairly impressed with how nicely utilities dealt with these hurricanes and acquired electrical energy working once more after the storms handed, there was nonetheless loads of energy outage and the entire struggles and prices that include that. It could possibly be higher.

The US Division of Vitality (DOE) acknowledges this and is right here to assist. Sure, when somebody says, “Hello, I’m with the government and I’m here to help,” most of us really do respect that. The fantastic factor at this time is that battery know-how has superior massively and prices are dramatically decrease than they have been once I was a child or in school. And batteries are probably the most responsive and helpful factor you may add to the grid, particularly to assist throughout storms. Naturally, that’s the place the DOE is now directing some funding.

“In a continued effort to expedite the build out of a resilient and reliable electric grid, today the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced a $28.7 million investment in a more resilient and equitable energy system to protect Florida communities and businesses against extreme weather events,” the DOE writes. “Supported by a Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program Grid Resilience Grant, the City of Tallahassee Electric & Gas Utility’s selected project will deploy a utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) to provide backup power to facilities providing critical services, like nursing homes and community centers. The BESS is also expected to provide an estimated overall annual fuel cost savings of $160,000 that will benefit municipal utility customers.”

Tallahassee?!?! That’s too distant — that’s not going to assist me! Joking apart, I’ve acquired sufficient dwelling vitality storage capability to get me by way of the aftermath of a storm (thanks, Bluetti and Yokoshima), and I’m positive the Tallahassee area may use the battery storage enhance and larger resilience when hit with hurricanes. “Like many communities across the country, Tallahassee, Florida experiences extreme weather events, and its existing substation is overburdened,” the DOE explains.

“The residents of Florida repeatedly bear the impacts of extreme weather change, and the Biden-Harris Administration continues to work hard to ensure that all of the nation’s grid is hardened in the face of intensified effects of climate change,” US Secretary of Vitality Jennifer M. Granholm (for just a few extra weeks) provides. “The Administration’s Investing in America agenda has delivered the largest grid investment in U.S. history, adding more power to the grid faster, improving reliability and resilience, and investing in innovative technologies so all Americans can have access to affordable, reliable energy.”

Trying extra broadly, this GRIP program was funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation. It’s a $10.5 billion program for the huge deployment of options just like the one talked about right here, and never simply in Florida after all. It’s for “communities across the country to enhance grid flexibility and improve the resilience of the power system against growing threats of extreme weather.” That features fires in California, floods in North Carolina, and extra. Up to now, since October of final yr, $7.6 billion has been despatched out to 105 totally different tasks, spanning all 50 states and Washington, DC. “In total, GRIP projects are expected to enable 53 GW of grid capacity, equivalent to powering nearly 40 million homes each year. All told, through the first two rounds of funding, the GRIP program selected projects will add or upgrade nearly 2,500 miles of transmission.” They higher get the remaining $3 billion deployed shortly although or the Trump administration could kill this system (or they’ll simply preserve sending the cash out and declare credit score for what Democrats in Congress and Joe Biden within the White Home acquired handed, as usually occurs).

Particulars on these 105 tasks can be found here. The purpose is to announce the third spherical of GRIP funding in 2025.

Listed here are just a few extra notes from the DOE on the broader work executed by the Biden administration and the way all of this matches into it:

“This funding helps the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiativewhich units a aim that 40% of the general advantages of sure federal funding in local weather, clear vitality, and different areas circulation to deprived communities which can be marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by air pollution.

“The Investing in America agenda is providing the largest electric grid infrastructure investment in history to strengthen America’s power grid while lowering energy costs and creating good-paying jobs. Under the Biden-Harris Administration’s leadership, the U.S. is projected to build more new electric generation capacity this year than in two decades while also mobilizing to upgrade thousands of miles of existing transmission lines. This includes catalyzing nationwide collaboration on modern grid technologies and funding their deployment, accelerating transmission permitting, and increasing grid capacity to support electricity demand to support increased electrification, data centers, and manufacturing.”