The U.S. power grid is overburdened and under-resourced, and the Biden administration has announced major investments aimed at helping solve those problems.
The Department of Energy provided $2.2 billion for eight projects in 18 states that could expand and strengthen the electric grid. Projects range from installing grid-strengthening technologies that increase the capacity of existing transmission lines to building modern high-voltage transmission cables that will allow wind farms on the Great Plains and off the coast of New England to connect to the electric grid.
Tuesday’s announcement represents a significant new federal investment in the U.S. electric grid. Not growing That’s fast enough to bring clean energy online at the pace needed to fight climate change.Energy experts have warned that the Biden administration’s goal of halving carbon emissions by 2030 will not be met unless the existing grid capacity is doubled or tripled.
The $2.2 billion in federal grant funding, coupled with nearly $10 billion in investments from the private sector and local governments, will help the country take small steps toward this goal. According to the Department of Energy, the new projects will connect 13 gigawatts of new clean energy resources to the grid, including 4.8 gigawatts of offshore wind. The grant funding is conditional for now, and all projects still must contribute matching funds and meet certain milestones to receive federal funding.
This grant was funded by the DOE Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership Programcreated by Bipartisan Infrastructure Act of 2021The program, called GRIP, will begin in October 2023. 58 projects across 44 states In total, they are set to receive $3.5 billion. These projects are expected to bring online 35 gigawatts of new clean energy capacity.
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The newly announced projects are primarily focused on the following core projects: DOE Identifies “Innovative Grid Deployment” Technologies More government support is expected to be needed to expand deployment. The ultimate goal is to “advance a more modern electric grid, a more energy secure future, a more reliable, more resilient grid, and a grid that delivers more affordable and clean energy,” White House national climate adviser Ali Zaidi said at a press conference on Monday.
One of the largest and most ambitious initiatives among the awardees is the North Plains Connector Interregional Innovation Project, which is set to receive $700 million in funding aimed at building a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnection in Montana and North Dakota. Consortium partners include the Montana Department of Commerce, Colstrip Transmission SystemGrid Developer Grid Unitedplans to invest $2.9 billion in matching funds.
The core project of the consortium North Plains ConnectorThe line will be the first HVDC transmission line to connect the power grid managed by the Western Electric Power Coordinating Council, which covers much of the Intermountain West, with the grids of Midcontinent Independent System Operator and Southwest Power Pool, Midwest transmission operators that connect to the broader eastern U.S. grid.
Numerous studies by DOE, universities and energy analysts Identified inter-regional transmission lines Critical to reducing the cost of the clean energy transition and making the power grid more resilient to extreme weather, the North Plains Connector will enable western and eastern U.S. power grids to share 14 times more power than they do today and will enable the construction of approximately 3 gigawatts of new generating capacity in the wind-rich states it passes through.
Strengthening offshore wind power generation Another important target Given the cost and complexity, federal funding would be difficult to come by, which is what another GRIP awardee is looking to help with.
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The Power Up New England project, a collaboration between the states of Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont, will receive a $390 million grant to jointly develop an “interconnection point,” an onshore facility that will connect the high-voltage undersea cables that carry electricity from offshore wind farms. The project could unlock 4.8 gigawatts of offshore wind power. Much more According to DOE estimates, this is more electricity than is currently operating in the United States and would reduce wholesale electricity delivery costs to New England customers by approximately $1.55 billion.
Some grant recipients plan to install advanced conductors, or high-tech power cables. It’s lighter, stronger and can carry more electricity. It will use longer cables than conventional cables, expanding the capacity of existing transmission lines.
These include $600 million for California’s Advanced High Reliability Grid Strengthening Technologies for Electricity Transmission project, $249 million for the Utah Energy Development Authority’s High Reliability Line: Infrastructure Expansion Framework, and $57 million for a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s State Energy Office and utility company Duke Energy.
The other two projects are targeted at “behind the meter” applications to reduce grid stress, rather than the grid itself: The Tribal Energy Resiliency and Sovereignty Project will award $87 million in grants to the Hoopa Valley, Yurok, Karuk and Blue Lake Rancheria tribes in Northern California to develop tribally owned and operated microgrids.
Another behind-the-meter project is Data Center Impact Power is being added to the electric grid at an unprecedented pace. The Virginia Department of Energy and partners were awarded $87 million to install batteries at Virginia’s Iron Mountain data center, one of a group of facilities in Northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley” where surging demand for electricity is straining the power grid. The grant is also funding research into installing microturbines, solar power, and batteries at a data center in South Carolina.
These on-site resources can provide resiliency to the data centers themselves, mitigating stress caused by data center power loads at times when grid demand threatens to outstrip supply, Maria Robinson, director of the Energy Department’s Grid Deployment Office, said in a briefing on Monday.
“We may be able to work with these types of complexes to provide more resources to the grid during summer heatwaves and winter storms, especially when capacity is needed,” she said.
The new projects take on a variety of different forms, but ultimately they all pursue one goal: strengthening the power grid that is central to the effort to move away from fossil fuels.
