By FREE Staff
As the U.S. shifts to the electrification of its transport and other systems, one of the biggest and most difficult challenges the country faces is how to ensure the electric grid can handle the added stress.
The country’s network of hundreds of thousands of miles of powerlines is taking center stage in many discussions surrounding the future of the U.S. energy system.
Experts and industry observers have spent much time and energy in recent years brainstorming how to improve the grid’s power, resiliency, distribution and integration to handle the future onslaught of demands it is expected to take on thanks to the rise of renewable energy.
The country’s grid is in need of work and repair, with more than half of U.S. transmission lines and power transformers installed before 1970 and threatened by climate change.
The issue has become one of the Department of Energy’s top priorities in the energy transition. The Department has outlined a vision of the country’s future grid, which includes universal access to consumer participation and choice in the energy grid, such as distributed generation, demand-side management, electrification of transportation, and energy efficiency.
The vision also includes holistically designed grid solutions such as regional diversity, AC-DC transmission and distribution solutions, microgrids, energy storage, and centralized-decentralized control. The key attributes driving the vision are reliability, physical and cybersecurity, and resilience.
As part of that push towards resiliency, the Biden administration recently announced a Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program, “to enhance grid flexibility and improve the resilience of the power system against growing threats of extreme weather and climate change,” according to the department.
The $10.5 billion program includes funding for transformative projects to improve the reliability of the grid’s infrastructure to enhance the equity, accessibility and affordability of electricity.
On Oct. 18, 2023 the Department of Energy awarded the program’s first funding round, doling out $3.46 billion in projects funds to 58 projects across 44 states. The first round of funds aims to boost U.S. renewable capacity by more than 10% within the decade, the department said.
The projects “will leverage more than $8 billion in federal and private investments to deliver affordable, clean electricity to all Americans and ensure that communities across the nation have a reliable grid that is prepared for extreme weather worsened by the climate crisis,” according to the department.
The $10.5 billion for projects include three types of funding:
- Grid Resilience Utility and Industry Grants: The $2.5 billion in funds will go towards modernizing the electric grid to mitigate the threat of climate change. The program provides grants “to electric grid operators, electricity storage operators, electricity generators, transmission owners or operators, distribution providers, and fuel suppliers.”
- Smart Grid Grants: This $3 billion in funds will go towards improving the flexibility, efficiency, and reliability of the electric power system. A key focus of these grants is to bolster the capacity of the transmission system, in a bid to avoid faults that might lead to wildfires, “integrating renewable energy at the transmission and distribution levels, and facilitating the integration of increasing electrified vehicles, buildings, and other grid-edge devices.”
- Grid Innovation Program: The largest pool of $5 billion in grants provides financial assistance to states, Tribes, municipalities, and public utility commissions to “collaborate with electric sector owners and operators to deploy projects that use innovative approaches to transmission, storage, and distribution infrastructure to enhance grid resilience and reliability.”
Like much of the Biden administration’s approach to the energy transition, the programs and funding are working to keep equity and inclusion at their center.
The projects all support the administration’s Justice40 initiative, which seeks to ensure that 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution, according to the White house.
“Today’s announcement represents the largest-ever direct investment in critical grid infrastructure, supporting projects that will harden systems, improve energy reliability and affordability—all while generating union jobs for highly skilled workers,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement announcing the first funding round.
As the U.S. continues its march towards a clean energy economy, ensuring the resiliency and accessibility of the country’s electric grid is vital. It will take funding like this, as well as community input, private sector support, and collective innovation to build a power system for the next generation.