In support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that 49 states, 5 territories, 254 Tribal Nations, and the District of Columbia have received a combined total of $473.6 million in fiscal year (FY) 2024 Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants to modernize the electric grid to reduce the impacts of extreme weather events while also ensuring the reliability of the power sector. Supported by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and administered by DOE’s Grid Deployment Office, the Grid Resilience Formula Grant program is designed to strengthen America’s power grid against wildfires, extreme weather events, and other natural disasters that are exacerbated by the climate crisis. This funding will deliver on the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals to support communities in accessing affordable, reliable, and clean electricity.
“From remote and rural communities to urban centers, every pocket of America deserves a strong and reliable energy grid that can deploy clean, affordable power to homes and businesses,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “The transformative investments in grid infrastructure from the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda is helping protect our main streets and downtowns during extreme weather events, while creating good-paying jobs in the process.”
With today’s announcement, DOE has awarded nearly $1.3 billion in Grid Resilience State and Tribal formula grant funds since FY 2022. Over five years, Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants anticipates distributing a total of $2.3 billion to states, territories and tribes, including Alaska Native Regional Corporations and Alaska Native Village Corporations, based on a formula that includes factors such as population size, land area, probability and severity of disruptive events, and a locality’s historical expenditures on mitigation efforts. The states and tribes will then award these funds to eligible entities to complete a diverse set of projects, with priority given to efforts that generate the greatest community benefit while providing clean, affordable, and reliable energy.
A total of $815 million in formula grants were provided to states, tribes, and territories in FY 2022 and FY 2023 and they are now identifying and sub-awarding specific projects. FY 2022 and FY 2023 project highlights include:
- Citizen Potawatomi Nation – Citizen Potawatomi Nation Electric Company will leverage $1.7 million in tribal and federal funding to underground electrical service connections near tribal headquarters in Shawnee, Oklahoma, including the installation of approximately 1.7 miles of new underground electrical lines. The upgrades will strengthen electrical service for nine tribal facilities in the area by reducing the risk of outages and other disruptions caused by severe weather—including increasingly common instances of tornadoes, dangerous straight-line winds, and ice storms. The project will also reduce the community’s reliance on backup generation during outages and extreme weather events.
- Colorado – With $700,000 in federal funding through the Colorado Energy Office/Colorado Resiliency Office and local match from the Platte River Power Authority, this public power provider will install a 5 MW/20 MWh lithium-ion battery storage system in Estes Park. As the town’s first battery system, the project will provide an initial step toward a microgrid. The battery system will be on a feeder that serves critical facilities such as an emergency response command center and hospital. The system will help address transmission line outages and help facilitate future renewables onto the system. The project will also avoid costs associated with replacing or expanding the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) operated, 1940s-era, 25 MW transmission line through the Adams Tunnel. This project is also the first project to be featured in a new series of impact videos on DOE-funded grid improvement projects, now available online.
- Kansas – The Kansas Corporation Commission will provide almost $5 million in federal and state funding to Pioneer Electric Company (PEC) to replace approximately 20 miles of aging power lines, many of which date back to original construction in the 1950s. It will also conduct proactive pole testing and replace up to 1,280 poles to reduce outages from wind damage, a growing challenge associated with increased dry rot in poles brought on by drought conditions exacerbated by climate change (the most common type of environmental hazard to cause failures on PEC’s system). Finally, PEC will encourage faster dispatch and response times by deploying a drone for monitoring the distribution system, reducing the need for vehicles to reach difficult to access areas to assess damage. Using a drone will also allow PEC to investigate lines without disturbing the habitat of the native Lesser Prairie Chicken, a threatened species in Kansas.
- Michigan – With almost $500,000 in state and federal funding, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy is working with Alger Delta on the Kiva Line Rebuild Project. This project will rebuild more than two miles of distribution line and remove trees as part of a vegetation management strategy. The project is located between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, an area that experiences frequent storms that cause outages. This work will harden the electrical system and mitigate risks from severe weather, including decreasing the likelihood of outages.
The announcement also advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. DOE expects to issue the FY 2025 Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants ALRD in FY 2025 Q2.
