Department of Energy makes ‘largest-ever direct investment’ of $3.4B toward critical grid infrastructure

The federal government is making its largest direct investment ever in critical infrastructure of the nation’s electric grid—to strengthen infrastructure against climate change and prepare for future modernizations. Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, White House Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm last week announced $3.46 billion for 58 projects across 44 states to strengthen resilience and reliability in communities across America.

“Extreme weather events fueled by climate change will continue to strain the nation’s aging transmission systems,” Granholm said in a statement. “Today’s announcement represents the largest-ever direct investment in critical grid infrastructure, supporting projects that will harden systems, improve energy reliability and affordability—all while generating union jobs for highly skilled workers.”

The investment for a first round of investments awarded through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program, which is managed by the Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office and received $10.5 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In total, the bipartisan legislation allotted more than $20 billion to upgrade America’s power grid.

The latest round of funding is intended to increase the resilience, flexibility, efficiency, and reliability of electric power systems, particularly focusing on solar, wind, and other clean energy options, and on reducing faults that could lead to wildfires. Investments are also intended to improve reliability through innovative approaches to transmission, storage, and distribution. All of the awarded projects have some sort of equity commitment built into them, and 86 percent either contain labor union partnerships or will involve collective bargaining agreements.

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