$13B Transmission Funding Announced by DOE

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced in Feb. 2023 a massive allocation of $13 billion for transmission funding.  It’s part of the Biden Administration’s goal to deliver 100% clean energy by 2035 and cut emission levels by 50% in 2030 relative to 2005 levels, and the funding is coming from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) that was enacted as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in November 2021.  Read on for the details.

Overview of the $13 Billion Transmission Funding Initiative

The first round of funding is associated with 2 BIL programs – $10.5 billion for the Grid Resilience Innovative Partnership (GRIP) program, and another $2.5 billion for the Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP).

All told, the $13 billion represents the largest single direct federal investment in critical T&D infrastructure in U.S. history.  The project’s primary goals include:

• Improve or upgrade the nation’s aging infrastructure by developing thousands of miles of new, high-capacity transmission infrastructure.
• Harden the grid and improve reliability against the growing threats of extreme weather.
• Deploy grid-enhancing technologies to mitigate forest fires, enable electric vehicle (EV) expansion, integrate more renewable energy sources, pursue microgrids, facilitate smart building functionalities, improve load management, and fortify cybersecurity.

Obviously, this list of goals and objectives is quite ambitious, and although this initial round of transmission funding is a great place to start, it will most certainly not be enough to really move the needle.  That’s why more funding opportunities will be forthcoming in the near future.

All in all, I think this is great news for our country.  Say what you will about who is actually footing the bill, and I know there’s a lot of merit to this side of the argument, but I can say with absolute certainty that a huge investment in this country’s infrastructure is absolutely necessary.  We need a lot more of this type of transmission funding going forward, that’s for sure.