Two US Department of Energy clean energy funding programs this month awarded a total of $3.5 billion to a range of projects to support expanding transmission infrastructure and improving climate resilience throughout the country.
The DOE announced on Oct. 18 nearly $2 billion for 38 projects in 42 states and the District of Columbia that will strengthen the U.S. They include six Florida projects that President Joe Biden previously announced for infrastructure damaged by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, including those to further modernize. over 950 miles of transmission with new power lines and increased capacity.
All projects will be funded by the federal Investing in America Agenda, which includes $95.9 billion for initiatives to accelerate the development of clean energy, clean buildings and clean manufacturing. Federal permits will be streamlined for new projects, the agency said.
Projects chosen to improve grid reliability and resiliency include those being built by Arizona Public Service in the Southwest for 289,000 customer meters. Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative in Bloomington, Ind. and Southern Illinois Power Cooperative in Marion, Ill., will build transmission lines at 10 substations in seven counties, with other projects involving Randolph Electric Membership Corp. in Asheboro, NC and Entergy Texas Inc. in The Woodlands, Texas, also awarded funding.
Boston-based GridUnity plans to “deploy software to improve the efficiency of the interconnection process with multiple regional transmission organizations,” the DOE said, according to the news release. Elevate Renewables, also based there, was awarded $27.5 million to integrate a 20 MW battery energy storage system into an existing fossil fuel power plant in Milford, Connecticut.
In eight states, including Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky, the Tennessee Valley Authority will “create its first interconnection link” with grid operator Southwest Power Pool, to provide local electric companies and federally owned 800 MW of new energy supply, the DOE added. Its $250 million grant will fund 84 energy security projects and is also expected to reduce the duration of localized outages by 94% and deliver $250 million in cost savings for 360 disadvantaged communities.
Maine Electric Link
Earlier this month, the department also announced a $1.5 billion grant to support four transmission projects planned to add 1,000 miles of new transmission infrastructure and 7,100 MW of new capacity in Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Among those, utility Avangrid’s Aroostook Renewable project would involve a new substation in Haynesville, Maine, and a 111-mile, 1,200-MW transmission line to link with the Independent System Operator-New England (ISO- NE). The potential $425 million project envisions providing New England with access to low-cost clean energy generated in northern Maine.
The state’s Public Utilities Commission is now about to issue a request for transmission line proposals, with the power generation portion being solicited separately. Avangrid said it would participate in the RFP process and include the awarded $425 million capacity contract as part of its proposal.
The construction of this high-voltage line “will ease transmission constraints that have stalled the development of renewable resources in northern Maine for years,” said Avangrid, which also plans to invest more than $15 million in underserved communities of the state Maine utility regulators will likely announce the winning bids in 2025, he said.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (R) said the federal investment, among the largest ever made in Maine, “has the power to transform the energy future of northern Maine” by no longer requiring the importing fossil fuels from out of state.
He signed a bill into law in June 2023 that planned a clean energy project in northern Maine. The effort failed due to local opposition, but the public utilities commission reopened procurement for the project in May.
Other U.S. transmission projects include the estimated $306 million Cimarron Link, a 400-mile high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line from Texas County, Oklahoma, to Tulsa, Oklahoma; Southern Spirit, a new 320-mile HVDC line connecting the Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) electric grid with others outside the state for the first time; and Southline, a new 108-mile transmission line that will provide 1,000 MW of new bidirectional capacity between Hidalgo County, NM and Las Cruces, NM.
The New England ISO grid operator “believes there are four key pillars needed to support our rapidly approaching clean energy future, one of which is a robust transmission system,” the spokeswoman said Mary Cate Colapietro. “This is critical to integrating renewable resources and ensuring that energy is efficiently delivered to New England consumers.”
Announced through the DOE Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP), the chosen projects “will deploy innovative new transmission and distribution infrastructure and technology upgrades to enable more than 7.5 GW of grid capacity and accelerate interconnection for new projects of clean energy,” the agency said. he said, forecasting a total of “more than $4.2 billion in total public and private investment to bring affordable, clean energy to Americans.”
The GRIP program, funded by the bipartisan Infrastructure Act, is investing $10.5 billion in communities across the country.
The DOE also released a new national transmission planning study that found the U.S. will need to double or even triple its 2020 transmission capacity by 2050 to meet the needs of growing demand and reliability But he says a major expansion of the system “could lead to savings of $270 billion to $490 billion by 2050.”
