The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced an investment of $1.5bn in four electricity transmission projects, aimed at enhancing grid reliability and resilience in the country.
The funds for the projects selected under DOE’s Transmission Facilitation Program are supported by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and administered through the department’s Grid Deployment Office (GDO).
The power grid projects will facilitate nearly 1,609km of new transmission infrastructure, adding 7.1GW of capacity across Mississippi, New Mexico, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, and Texas. The projects are also expected to generate around 9,000 jobs.
According to the DOE, the new commitment is expected to enhance critical interregional grid connections as well as make diverse renewable energy resources available to more customers.
It is also expected to boost resistance against extreme weather, offering hundreds of millions of dollars in direct and indirect community benefits.
US Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk said: “DOE’s approach to deploying near-term solutions and developing long-term planning tools will ensure our electric grid is more interconnected and resilient than ever before, while also supporting greater electricity demand.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to bolstering our power grid to improve the everyday life of Americans through affordable power, fewer blackouts, more reliable power, and additional jobs across our country.”
The projects selected for the funding include the Aroostook renewable project, the Cimarron Link project, the Southern Spirit project, and the Southline project.
To be built by Iberdrola subsidiary Avangrid, the Aroostook project has a potential contract value of up to $425m.
The project will involve the construction of a new substation in Maine and a 178.6km transmission line with 1.2GW capacity to connect to the Independent System Operator-New England (ISO-NE) system.
To be developed in Oklahoma, the Cimarron Link project is a 643.7km high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission line between Texas County and Tulsa. The project has a potential contract value of up $306m.
It will transmit 1.9GW of wind and solar energy to load centres.
The Southern Spirit project with up to $360m potential contract value involves the construction of a 515km HVDC line to connect the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) with grids in the southeastern US. It will deliver 3GW of bidirectional capacity across Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
The Southline project will develop a 174km transmission line to deliver 1GW of bidirectional capacity between Hidalgo County and Las Cruces, New Mexico, generating at least 150 construction jobs. It has a potential contract value of up to $352m.
The DOE’s announcement comes after its prior selections of the Southline Phase 1, the Southwest Intertie Project-North, and the Cross-Tie 500kV transmission line project.
In addition to the investment, the DOE has released the final National Transmission Planning (NTP) study, which provides a set of long-term planning tools and analyses for future scenarios up to 2050.
The study indicates that the US will need to nearly double or triple its 2020 transmission capacity by 2050 to meet growing demand and ensure reliability. It also suggests cost savings through significant transmission expansion and interregional planning.
