Energy Department awards $2.2 billion in grid grants
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Tuesday will announce $2.2 billion in grants from the 2021 infrastructure law for projects that aim to grow electric grid capacity and protect against extreme weather.
The funding from the law’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program will go to eight projects that reach across 18 states and is expected to add 13 gigawatts of capacity, including 4,800 megawatts of offshore wind, Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said on a call with reporters.
“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,” Granholm said in a statement.
This round of funding will focus on building out transmission line infrastructure and reconductoring, the process of replacing conventional transmission lines with advanced conductors.
White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said on the call that the reconductoring projects will use existing rights-of-way, speeding up the permitting process.
The largest sum, at $700 million, is going to a project in North Dakota and Montana to build a 3,000 megawatt transmission line known as a High-Voltage Direct Current Voltage Source Converter, or HVDV-VSC, which would bridge the Western and Eastern Interconnections.
California is getting a large share of the funds for three projects that touch the state. One, receiving a $600 million grant, will reconductor more than 100 miles of transmission lines; another, getting roughly $89 million, will empower four tribes in Northern California to develop, own and operate their own nested microgrids.
A project in the New England region will receive $389 million to upgrade points of interconnection for offshore wind and a long-duration energy storage system. According to an Energy Department fact sheet, the project will enable 4,800 megawatts of offshore wind energy, enough to power about 2 million homes.
The program includes two additional funding programs — Grid Resilience Utility and Industry Grants, and Smart Grid Grants — that aim to strengthen and expand the grid. Granholm said to expect funding announcements for those in the fall.
The additional grid funding comes as Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Joe Manchin III, I-W. Va., and ranking member John Barrasso, R-Wyo., teamed up to introduce a bipartisan permitting overhaul bill that aimed to provide a clear pathway for transmission permitting. The committee advanced the bill last week in a 15-4 vote.
When asked about the Manchin-Barrasso bill, Granholm told reporters that the Biden administration has yet to take a position on the legislation but generally supports removing barriers to permitting and environmental reviews.