U.S. GRID INVESTMENT $2 BLN

U.S. DOE - October 18, 2024 - In support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, today the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced 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. The selected projects announced today through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program 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.

These projects, which span 42 states and the District of Columbia, include the six projects across the Southeast that President Biden announced during his trip to Florida last week. Those six selected projects included utilities that were impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

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.

“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 county can have access to more renewable energy and pay less for their electricity.”

“In order to reach President Biden and Vice President Harris’ climate and clean energy goals, we need to more than double our current transmission capacity in just over a decade,” said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy. “Today’s awards are moving us toward that future by expanding transmission capacity across the nation, getting more out of the grid we already have, and making our power system more reliable and resilient to extreme weather fueled by the climate crisis.”

“We need our grid better adapted to storms like Hurricanes Helene and Milton – and other extreme climate disasters like the wildfires out west. We need our grid better wired to accelerate America’s manufacturing renaissance and leadership in artificial intelligence. We need our grid better able to bring online cheaper, cleaner power,” said White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi. “Today’s investment will do that. And today’s investment will lower energy costs and bolster grid resilience. President Biden and Vice President Harris are seizing a critical opportunity – modernizing America’s energy infrastructure and making it stronger.”

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 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.

This funding supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments in climate, clean energy, and other areas flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

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