DOE opens application period for $2.3B in funding to benefit state, tribal, territorial power grids

A new effort from the Department of Energy (DOE) under the Biden administration seeks to allocate $2.3 billion to state, tribal, and territorial governments to help modernize the power grid and build a cheaper system more resilient to climate change.

This is an extension of the Preventing Outages and Enhancing the Resilience of the Electric Grid program, as administered through the DOE’s Building a Better Grid Initiative. The program is a major component of the administration’s effort to get the national grid to run on fully clean electricity by 2035. It also could undo some of the damage of severe weather, which in the past 20 years has caused more than double the power outages, and boosted both the frequency and length of time for power failures to their highest points since reliability tracking began in 2013.

On average in 2020, U.S. customers experienced more than eight hours of outages.

“Every community deserves a strong and reliable energy grid that can deploy cleaner, cheaper power to homes and businesses,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said. “Thanks to the transformative investments in grid infrastructure from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we can help protect our neighborhoods, main streets, and downtowns from grid shutdowns during extreme weather events, while creating good-paying jobs in the process.”

The new formula grant program will offer $459 million annually to states and Tribal nations for resilience improvement purposes over five years. This could include everything from utility pole upkeep and vegetation management to new monitoring and modeling for real-time situational awareness. Interested governments can apply through Sept. 30, 2022, with priority given to projects that could provide the greatest community benefit toward reducing the frequency and consequences of blackouts and power shutdowns from natural or manmade disasters.

Applicants will need to provide the specific outcomes they hope for and agree to specifically related progress metrics.