The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday announced $125 million in formula grants to modernize state and tribal electric grids and ensure power reliability. The grants will go to nine states and five tribal nations for projects like battery backup systems, grid hardening investments and weatherization.
The funding was made available by the bipartisan infrastructure law and is being administered by DOE’s Grid Deployment Office. The office has awarded more than $580 million since May.
“This year, the U.S. has already incurred $15 billion in extreme climate-related disaster costs, underscoring the urgent need to strengthen the grid to deliver dependable power supply to Americans,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.
The awards are the seventh round of grid resilience formula grants the Biden administration has announced. Among the awardees:
- The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma will receive almost $1 million to install battery backup for critical care and emergency facilities. The system will also help to reduce the overall cost of operations while increasing grid resilience, DOE said.
- Mississippi will receive $12 million for investments in grid hardening and last-mile solutions for low-income customers. “The grant funding will support resilient infrastructure improvements and upgrades, development of microgrid and non-wired alternative projects, and growth of the skilled workforce for grid resilience activities,” DOE said.
- Nebraska will receive $10.8 million to make its electric system more resilient to heat, cold and storms, and for real-time monitoring systems.
- New York will receive $23.8 million for grid hardening and to invest in “energy systems that benefit disadvantaged communities, reduce the energy burden to disadvantaged communities, and increase the skilled workforce.”
A full list of Grid Deployment Office awards can be found here.
