US Invests $2.2B Into Grid Upgrades for Climate Resilience

In support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America
agenda, the US Department of Energy
(DOE) has invested $2.2 billion in the nation’s grid for eight projects
across 18 states to protect against growing threats of extreme weather events,
lower costs for communities, and catalyze additional grid capacity to meet load
growth stemming from an increase in manufacturing and data centers.

Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Grid Resilience and
Innovation Partnerships (GRIP)
Program,
the projects selected will catalyze nearly $10 billion in total public and
private investment to bring reliable, affordable, clean energy to the US. This
deployment of transmission infrastructure and technology upgrades to the
existing grid will add nearly 13 gigawatts (GW) of grid capacity — including
4,800 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind — allowing more clean power to reach
customers across the country. These projects will create at least 5,000
good-paying jobs and upgrade more than 1,000 miles of transmission in total.

“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,” said US 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.”

The Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 catalyzed growth in cleantech development and manufacturing across the US. But as REN21’s Renewables 2023 Global Status
Report pointed out,
projects that could generate more than 1TW of renewable energy are still waiting
to be constructed and connected to the grid — not just in the US, but around the world — due to
delays in permitting and a lack of investment in updating grid
infrastructure.
The GRIP program aims to eliminate that barrier.

“We need a bigger, smarter, more resilient
grid,”
said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to
the President for International Climate Policy. “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.”

Part of DOE’s Building a Better Grid
Initiative and
authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the GRIP Program funding
represents the federal government’s single largest direct investment into
critical grid infrastructure — part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s
historic actions to get grid updates funded, permitting and deployed across the
country. The selections are made through Grid Innovation Program
grants — one of three
GRIP funding mechanisms that seek to deploy projects that use innovative
approaches to transmission, storage and distribution infrastructure to enhance
grid resilience and reliability.

Across the 8 projects, over $300 million will be invested in community
workforce development, scholarships and apprentice programs, and grants to
community organizations. GRIP projects also include strategies to ensure
meaningful community and labor engagement and quality. Six of eight GRIP
projects will utilize local partnerships with labor unions, at least five of
which will partner with local chapters of the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers.

The full list of projects is available
online.

Selected projects will leverage:

• Innovative transmission infrastructure to improve grid resilience and
  reliability and integrate more clean energy to the grid.

  • Two projects will deploy large new transmission lines: Clean Path New
    York (New York Power Authority) and
    North Plains Connector (Montana
    Department of Commerce). The two lines — totaling about 625 miles —
    will increase grid capacity by about 4,300 MW by deploying high voltage,
    direct current (HVDC) technology, among other things.

    • Clean Path New York will deploy HVDC cables underground and
      underwater to minimize right-of-way impacts that can be associated
      with large-scale transmission projects.

    • The North Plains Connector will increase interregional transfer
      capacity and provide instantaneous change of direction in
      electricity flows to support the eastern or western grid when
      required, improving resilience and reliability. The project will
      also enable the development of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s
      wind resources.

• Advanced technology upgrades to deploy innovative grid technologies
  including advanced conductors, dynamic line ratings, microgrids and advanced
  distribution-management systems to increase grid capacity using existing
  rights of way.

  • Six projects will implement technologies on the existing electric grid,
    increasing grid capacity and transforming grid operations.

  • Three projects will deploy advanced conductors at scale to upgrade about
    400 miles of existing transmission lines.

  • Three projects will deploy dynamic line rating — a grid-enhancing
    technology that can increase system utilization by enabling transmission
    lines to increase power flow while still operating safely.

  • The Administration is catalyzing national collaboration on deploying
    these modern grid technologies, including through a Federal-State Modern
    Grid Deployment Initiative.

• Federal, interstate and private-sector collaborations and partnerships

  • The RELIEF
    Project
    — headed by the Utah Office of Energy Development in collaboration
    with the states of Arizona, Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming,
    as well as the California Independent System Operator — will address
    system contingency issues and prevent over 5,500 hours of potential
    outages for 700,000 utility customers in the five states.

  • Headed by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, Power
    Up New
    England is
    a collaboration with the states of Connecticut, Maine, New
    Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The project will reduce
    wholesale energy supply costs for New England customers by about $1.55
    billion and create new offshore-wind interconnections in Massachusetts
    and in Connecticut, in addition to enabling 4,800 MW of offshore wind.

• California has secured a $600 million federal
  grant
  to upgrade 100 miles of electric transmission lines with grid-enhancing
  technologies to improve reliability and deliver clean, affordable
  electricity faster. The GRIP grant was awarded to a consortium that includes
  the California Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities
  Commission, the California Independent System Operator, Pacific Gas &
  Electric Company, and Southern California Edison.

“The United States is leading an unprecedented expansion in the capacity of the
existing US transmission network, which will further catalyze our work to
deliver reliable, affordable power across the country,” said White House
National Climate 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.”

Under Investing in America, the US 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.

In addition to the Grid Innovation Program, the GRIP Program includes two
additional funding mechanisms: Grid Resilience Utility and Industry
Grants
that provide funding to the private sector to strengthen and modernize the US
power
grid
against wildfires, extreme weather and other disruptive events exacerbated by
the effects of climate change — with a 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.

The second round of selections for GRIP’s the Grid Resilience Utility and
Industry Grants and the Smart Grid Grants will be announced later this year.