Energy Department launches Building a Better Grid Initiative
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday launched the Building a Better Grid Initiative, which is focused on catalyzing the nationwide development of new and upgraded high-capacity transmission lines that will connect more Americans to cleaner, cheaper energy.
Under the initiative, DOE will identify critical national transmission needs and support the buildout of long-distance, high-voltage transmission facilities to meet those needs through collaborative transmission planning, innovative financing mechanisms, coordinated permitting, and continued transmission-related research and development.
“With stronger, more sustainable energy grids, there’s nothing our nation can’t achieve!” tweeted DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm earlier this afternoon.
Specifically, the government’s new transmission buildout will make the nation’s electrical grid more reliable and resilient to climate change and is critical to achieving the president’s goal of 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035, according to DOE.
“Transmission is essential to achieving our clean energy goals & to enhancing energy grid resilience,” tweeted the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), which represents the nation’s investor-owned utilities. “EEI looks forward to working w/ leaders across the Biden admin. to improve policies & processes to evaluate & permit cost-effective transmission infrastructure.”
The Building a Better Grid initiative also will increase access to affordable and reliable clean energy and spur the creation of transmission jobs, which currently employ more than one million workers across the country, DOE says.
“The foundation of our climate and clean energy goals is a safe, reliable and resilient electric grid that is planned hand-in-hand with community partners and industry stakeholders,” said Secretary Granholm. “DOE’s new Building a Better Grid initiative is a job booster spurred by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and collaboration with communities to upgrade the nation’s grid, connect more Americans to clean electricity and broadband, and reliably move clean energy to where it’s needed most.”
Rebuilding and improving the nation’s aging roads, bridges and electrical grid is a cornerstone of Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which addresses the vulnerability of the nation’s grid transmission lines and power transformers — more than 70 percent of which are over 25 years old, according to DOE.
At the same time, the law will help meet increased interconnection queue waiting times for the number of clean energy generation and storage projects slated to be added to the grid, DOE says, as use of renewable electricity continues to quickly accelerate.
“The new Building a Better Grid Initiative, enabled by the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, will unlock the potential of America’s clean energy economy by catalyzing the nationwide buildout of the long-distance, high-voltage transmission lines we need to decarbonize the power grid and reduce costs for consumers,” Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy, said in a statement.
As outlined in the DOE’s Jan. 11 Notice of Intent, the Building a Better Grid Initiative will support the development of nationally significant transmission projects and grid upgrades by:
- Engaging and collaborating early with states, tribal nations, and stakeholders to accelerate transmission deployment.
- Enhancing transmission planning to identify areas of greatest need.
- Deploying more than $20 billion in federal financing tools, including through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s new $2.5 billion Transmission Facilitation Program, $3 billion expansion of the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program, and more than $10 billion in grants for states, tribes, and utilities to enhance grid resilience and prevent power outages, and through existing tools, including the more than $3 billion Western Area Power Administration Transmission Infrastructure Program, and a number of loan guarantee programs through the Loan Programs Office.
- Facilitating an efficient transmission permitting process by coordinating with federal agencies to streamline permitting, using public private partnerships, and designating corridors.
- Performing transmission-related research and development to continue developing and reducing the costs of technologies that enable the transmission system to be used more efficiently.
“Today’s launch of the Building a Better Grid Initiative takes important steps to upgrade and expand the electric grid so that more Americans can benefit from affordable and abundant clean energy,” said U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. “I am determined to help communities lower costs with the transition to a resilient and clean energy economy and I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to ensure that the critical transmission investments in the Build Back Better Act reach President Biden’s desk, so he can sign them into law.”
DOE is one of six other federal agencies that earlier today unveiled clean energy projects and plans that the White House says demonstrate the Biden administration’s commitment to creating cleaner and cheaper energy.
