Our Grid Is Old & Weak — Here’s $2 Billion To Improve It – CleanTechnica

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The US was supposed to have “Infrastructure Week” for about 4 years from 2017–2020. It just never happened. Some people just can’t get stuff done. However, after several months in control of the US Senate, US House of Representatives, and White House, Democrats got a couple of giant infrastructure bills passed. Now, every week is Infrastructure Week! And thank goodness, because much of our country’s infrastructure is old, weak, and frail.

Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton recently highlighted that for us, knocking out power for millions of people, destroying some municipal water systems, and wreaking havoc on communities across the US Southeast. Now, in order to improve the grid, prevent such incidents from being so bad in the future, and also give the economy a boost in the process, the Biden–Harris presidency is sending “nearly $2 billion for 38 projects that will protect the U.S. power grid against growing threats of extreme weather, lower costs for communities, and increase grid capacity to meet load growth stemming from an increase in manufacturing, data centers, and electrification.”

Indeed, $2 billion is a lot of money. More specifically, the projects are part of the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program and “will deploy new, innovative transmission and distribution infrastructure and technology upgrades to enable over 7.5 gigawatts (GW) of grid capacity, speed up interconnection for new clean energy projects, support nearly 6,000 good-paying jobs, and catalyze over $4.2 billion in total public and private investment to bring reliable, affordable, clean energy to Americans.” So, aside from helping strengthen the grid overall, they will also enable the integration of more distributed, renewable energy projects (which strengthen the grid and help cut pollution).

“The selected projects announced today will upgrade more than 950 miles of transmission by constructing more than 300 miles of new transmission lines and reconductoring or adding grid-enhancing technologies to more than 650 miles of transmission lines to increase the capacity of existing lines.”

Progress. Isn’t it nice when your elected leaders are focused on bringing progress? Isn’t it nice when they are actually able to get stuff done and implement solutions you and your country sorely need?

“The devastating and deadly Hurricanes, Helene and Milton, have put on stark display how extreme weather events continue to stress the nation’s aging electric systems — but across the country, the Biden-Harris Administration is using every tool in the toolbox to make sure America’s power grid is hardened in the face of this challenge,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “The Administration’s Investing in America agenda has provided the largest grid investment in U.S. history helping us add more energy to the grid faster, improve reliability and resilience, and invest in innovative technologies so customers across the country can have access to more renewable energy and pay less for their electricity.”

Boom.

Broader GRIP Program Funding

Furthermore, all of this is part of broader, more diverse investments focused on rebuilding, expanding, and strengthening our grid. “Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the GRIP program is investing $10.5 billion in communities across the country to enhance grid flexibility and improve the resilience of the power system against growing threats of extreme weather and climate change,” the DOE adds.

“The first round of GRIP funding, announced in October 2023, included $3.5 billion for 58 projects in 44 states. In August 2024, DOE announced an additional $2.2 billion for eight additional selections. With today’s selections, GDO has now announced a cumulative $7.6 billion in Federal funding for 104 projects through the GRIP program. In total, GRIP projects are expected to enable 55 GW of grid capacity, equivalent to powering more than 40 million homes each year. The GRIP projects announced in October 2023 and August 2024 will upgrade an additional 1,650 miles of transmission.”

Specific State-by-State Projects

Finally, details on these projects, state by state, as well as some key information to learn more about the GRIP program and future funding, are as follows (an extended quote from the DOE):

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Improving Reliability and Resilience in the Face of Extreme Weather 

In this round of funding, DOE received applications requesting more than seven times the amount of funding available, an oversubscription rate of nearly 800%, demonstrating the tremendous need for these types of investments across the country. Improving grid resilience in the face of extreme weather events was a key need nationwide. Selected projects that will improve reliability and resilience include:

• • Arizona — With the risk of wildfires increasing in the Southwest, Arizona Public Service Company (APS) will upgrade system devices, monitoring systems, upgrade wood utility poles, and implement microgrids in vulnerable areas to enhance energy reliability and resilience for 289,000 meters customers. Approximately 69% of the project will be carried out in rural, Tribal, or disadvantaged communities and APS estimates it will prevent nearly one million customer interruptions and save $113 million in emergency repair costs.
  • Indiana and Illinois — Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative and Southern Illinois Power Cooperative will build new transmission feeds to loop transmission to 10 substations in seven counties. These substations face increasing outages from extreme weather events and tornados. Adding looped transmission will increase grid resilience and reduce outages by providing backup connections to additional substations.
  • North Carolina — Randolph Electric Membership Corporation will deploy a suite of grid system upgrades to improve service reliability and resilience within REMC’s system, support targeted grid modernization improvements, and reduce outage duration while providing direct benefits to rural and underserved communities in North Carolina. The hardened grid will reduce outages from severe weather events for 32,000 customers in an area vulnerable to hurricanes. The area was affected by Winter Storm Finn in 2024 and Hurricane Ian in 2022.
  • Texas — Entergy Texas, Inc. (ETI) will enhance grid resilience in disadvantaged communities in Port Arthur, Texas by fortifying critical infrastructure to withstand extreme weather events, which have historically caused significant power disruptions. The project will improve grid reliability, with expected savings of $74 million over 50 years by reducing power interruptions and reducing restoration costs.

Adding More Energy to the Grid Faster While Generating Economic Development and Union Jobs 

The projects announced today will increase grid capacity, allow more renewable energy to reach customers across the country, and increase the speed of the interconnection process. Over $150 million will be invested in communities through workforce development, scholarships and apprentice programs, and community organization grants through these projects and more than 80% of the projects will work with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). Highlights include:

• • Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia — The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and its project partners will conduct 84 resilience subprojects across eight states to add over 2,400 MW of transmission grid capacity, reduce TVA’s solar interconnection queue, and reduce outage time. This project will create the first interconnection tie between TVA and the Southwest Power Pool, providing TVA and local power companies with 800 MW of new energy supply.  The project will provide an anticipated 94% reduction in localized outage durations and provide 360 disadvantaged communities with an estimated $250 million in economic benefit.
  • Massachusetts — Boston-based GridUnity will deploy software to improve the efficiency of the interconnection process with multiple Regional Transmission Organizations covering approximately 70% of the U.S. population—around 210 million people—to enhance energy reliability, security, and lower costs. DOE’s Transmission Interconnection Roadmap found that interconnection queue delays “significantly delay clean energy deployment and lead to higher costs for project developers and electricity consumers.” By modernizing the interconnection process, the project will significantly reduce the time required to review, approve, and commission new generation interconnections across the country and accelerate the approval of generation projects and grid developments that could employ 51,300 skilled workers.

Investing in Innovative Technologies and Achieving Grid Liftoff 

DOE’s Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Innovative Grid Deployment report identified multiple advanced grid solutions that are commercially available today to quickly and cost effectively enhance grid capacity, including advanced transmission and grid-enhancing technologies used in many of these projects.  GRIP projects that align with report findings include:

• • Connecticut — Elevate Renewables will reconfigure an existing fossil-fueled peaking generating station in Milford, Connecticut, integrating a 20 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) to create a carbon-neutral synchronous condensing solution, or “green sync.” With over 1,000 combustion turbine sites across the United States, the project has potential to be scaled nationwide.
  • Georgia — Led by Georgia Transmission Corporation, a consortium of 12 not-for-profit rural utilities in 11 states will build, rebuild, or reconductor transmission infrastructure to improve resilience and increase electric transfer capacity by deploying advanced overhead conductors (AOHC).

A full list of GRIP projects, including awards finalized to date, is available here. Award negotiations will begin immediately. DOE will hold an informational webinar on October 30, 2024 at 12:00 pm ET to highlight selection trends. Registration is required.

DOE expects to launch a third round of GRIP funding in 2025.

Learn more about the Grid Deployment Office.

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