Awards from USA Grid Modernization Grant Reach $350MM

The USA Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $29.9 million in the fourth rollout of a grant to climate-proof the country’s power grid. 

The Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants have now given a total of nearly $354 million out of the $2.3 billion five-year program. 

The latest disbursement covers three states, three tribal nations and an Alaskan Native Corp. Projects include investments in tech and manpower.  

“Every community deserves clean, affordable power for their homes and businesses, a need that is only exacerbated during extreme weather events like the historic flooding and blistering heat waves that are hitting parts of the country this summer”, Energy Secretary Jennifer M Granholm said in the announcement. 

Ohio has been earmarked the highest amount among the latest cohort, at $14 million, to “improve grid reliability by reducing the frequency and duration of outages in disadvantaged communities, while enhancing resilience to address all hazards, including future climate implications”, the DOE said. 

“Grants will be used to demonstrate community benefits using metrics developed with community input, with a focus on improving customer experience and communication”, it added. 

Connecticut has won $6.5 million, to be used to “support the efficient and reliable integration of variable and distributed energy resources needed to meet the state’s zero carbon electric sector goal and avoid fossil peaking generation”, the department said. The grant specifically goes to boosting the reliability of the electricity supply system and securing a skilled local workforce for the grid, with job support prioritizing disadvantaged communities. 

Vermont has gotten $6 million to support power investment in disadvantaged communities and critical facilities, as well as expand the human resources needed to maintain the grid. 

The Muscogee Creek Nation has been allotted $1.8 million “to support critical Tribal facilities, implement technologies to improve and update grid control and operation infrastructure, and support Tribal workforce development”. 

Cook Inlet Region Inc. has secured $500,000 to “reduce impacts to critical facilities from disruptive events, support workforce development, and address outdated or failing grid infrastructure”. 

The Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California has received $287,000 to “develop distributed energy resources and microgrids to increase power supply resilience, address Tribal energy justice to reduce impacts to disadvantaged communities, and support energy workforce development”. 

The Village of Dot Lake completes the list of the latest recipients, getting $149,000 to “reduce outage risks through asset management and preventative maintenance, as well as plan the development of battery storage for critical facilities”. 

With the latest cohort the DOE has now provided the resilience grant to 23 states, 12 tribal entities and the District of Columbia. 

The department has raised this year’s tranche “to better account for the probability of disruptive events on Tribal lands”, as announced by the agency May 5. The DOE has also extended the application deadline to August 31 for Indian tribes. 

The latest data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows USA consumers experienced over seven hours of power interruptions in 2021. 

“When major events—including snowstorms, hurricanes, and wildfires—are excluded, the average duration of interruptions annually remained consistently at around two hours per year from 2013 to 2021”, the EIA reported November 14, 2022. 

“Customers in Louisiana, Oregon, Texas, Mississippi, and West Virginia experienced the most time with interrupted power in 2021, ranging from almost 19 hours in West Virginia to over 80 hours in Louisiana”, it said. 

“Louisiana also had the highest number of power interruptions, followed by Texas”, the EIA added noting 2021 saw “the third-most active Atlantic weather season on record”. 

In February that year winter storm Uri resulted in a blackout for about 4.5 million people in Louisiana and Oklahoma. Louisiana was later hit by Hurricane Ida August 2021 with 1.2 million customers left without power, and again saw half a million people without electricity as a result of Hurricane Nicholas arriving around two weeks later, based on EIA figures. 

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