2023 was a record setting year for billion-dollar climate disasters. These climate disasters pose major challenges to the reliability of the United States current electric grid.
Majority of the U.S. electric grid was built in the 1960s and 1970s and has been slightly improved overtime. However, to meet the current needs of modern electricity, with renewable energy resources increasing, the deteriorating infrastructure is struggling to keep up. What would normally be a 50–80-year lifecycle for these transmission lines majority of the transmission lines are over 25 years old and already reaching the end of their life cycle.
The consequences of these worn-out transmission lines are causing power outage, susceptibility to cyber-attacks, or community emergencies cause by faulty grid infrastructure.
In response to this growing problem on November 14, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy announced up to $3.68 billion in investments for Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program as a part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Then on November 14, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration announced an opportunity for a second wave for funding adding an additional $3.9 billion funding available for the program.
The goal of this program is to strengthen electric grid resilience and reliability across America. The program invested in 58 projects across 44 states.
For the second wave of funding from the Biden-Harris Administration the full application deadlines have passed and selected projects will be announced later this year.
Tagged with DOE, electrification, electrifiED