EGN NEWS DESK
The U.S. energy grid is overburdened and under-resourced — and the Biden administration simply introduced a main funding aimed toward serving to resolve these issues.
The Department of Energy has provided $2.2 billion to eight tasks throughout 18 states that would broaden and strengthen the grid. The tasks vary from deploying grid-enhancing applied sciences that increase the capability of present energy strains to constructing brand-new high-voltage transmission cables that can allow wind farms within the Great Plains and off the coast of New England to plug into the grid.
Tuesday’s announcement represents one other important federal funding within the U.S. transmission grid, which isn’t rising quick sufficient to permit clear vitality to come back on-line on the tempo wanted to fight local weather change. Energy specialists warn that with no doubling or tripling of present grid capability, the nation will fail to hit the Biden administration’s aim of halving carbon emissions by 2030.
The $2.2 billion in federal grants, to be matched by almost $10 billion in private-sector and native authorities investments, will assist the nation take a small step towards that aim. The new tasks will allow 13 gigawatts of recent clear vitality sources to be related to the grid, DOE says, together with 4.8 GW of offshore wind. The awards are conditional for now — all tasks should nonetheless commit matching funds and meet sure milestones to obtain the federal cash.
The grants mark the second spherical of funding underneath the DOE’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program, created by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In October 2023, the GRIP Program selected 58 tasks throughout 44 states to obtain a collective $3.5 billion. Those tasks are anticipated to permit 35 gigawatts of recent clear vitality capability to come back on-line.
The newly introduced tasks are largely centered on a core set of “modern grid deployment” applied sciences that DOE has recognized as needing additional authorities assist with a purpose to see elevated adoption. Ultimately, the aim is to “advance a extra trendy grid, a extra vitality safe future, a grid that’s extra dependable and extra resilient, and one which delivers extra inexpensive and clear vitality,” Ali Zaidi, the nationwide local weather adviser to the White House, stated in a Monday briefing with reporters.
One of the most important and most bold efforts among the many winners is the North Plains Connector Interregional Innovation (NPCII) undertaking, which is ready to obtain $700 million with the purpose of constructing high-voltage direct present (HVDC) interconnections throughout Montana and North Dakota. The companions within the consortium, together with the Montana Department of Commerce, the Colstrip Transmission System, and grid developer Grid United, plan to take a position $2.9 billion in matching funds.
The consortium’s core undertaking, the North Plains Connector, can be the primary HVDC line to attach the facility grid managed by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, which covers a lot of the Intermountain West, with the transmission networks of Midwest grid operators Midcontinent Independent System Operator and Southwest Power Pool, which hook up with the broader Eastern U.S. grid.
A bunch of research from the DOE, universities, and vitality analysts have recognized interregional transmission strains as very important for decreasing the price of the clear vitality transition and making the grid extra resilient towards excessive climate. The North Plains Connector would enable the Western and Eastern U.S. grids to share 14 instances extra electrical energy than they do in the present day and allow about 3 gigawatts of recent era capability to be constructed within the wind-rich states it crosses.
