In late October, as part of the White House’s “Investing in America” agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced nearly $2 billion for 38 projects that will protect the U.S. power grid against growing threats of extreme weather; increase grid capacity to meet load growth stemming from an increase in manufacturing, data centers, and electrification; and lower costs for communities.

The selected projects announced hrough the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program will deploy new, innovative transmission and distribution infrastructure and technology upgrades to enable over 7.5 gigawatts (GW) of grid capacity, speed up interconnection for new clean energy projects, support nearly 6,000 good-paying jobs, and catalyze over $4.2 billion in total public and private investment.

In specific, the selected projects will upgrade more than 950 miles of transmission by constructing more than 300 miles of new transmission lines and reconductoring or adding grid-enhancing technologies to more than 650 miles of transmission lines to increase the capacity of existing lines.

Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the GRIP program is investing $10.5 billion in communities across the country to enhance grid flexibility and improve the resilience of the power system against growing threats of extreme weather and climate change.

The first round of GRIP funding, announced in October 2023, included $3.5 billion for 58 projects in 44 states. In August 2024, DOE announced an additional $2.2 billion for eight additional selections. With this month’s selections, GDO has now announced a cumulative $7.6 billion in Federal funding for 104 projects through the GRIP program.

In total, GRIP projects are expected to enable 55 GW of grid capacity, equivalent to powering more than 40 million homes each year. The GRIP projects announced in October 2023 and August 2024 will upgrade an additional 1,650 miles of transmission.

“The Administration’s Investing in America agenda has provided the largest grid investment in U.S. history helping us add more energy to the grid faster, improve reliability and resilience, and invest in innovative technologies so customers across the county can have access to more renewable energy and pay less for their electricity,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

“Today’s awards are moving us toward that future by expanding transmission capacity across the nation, getting more out of the grid we already have, and making our power system more reliable and resilient to extreme weather fueled by the climate crisis,” said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy.

These projects, which span 42 states and the District of Columbia, include six projects across the Southeast, focused on utilities that were impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. “We need our grid better adapted to storms like Hurricanes Helene and Milton – and other extreme climate

disasters like the wildfires out west,” said White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi. “We need our grid better wired to accelerate America’s manufacturing renaissance and leadership in artificial intelligence. We need our grid better able to bring online cheaper, cleaner power.”

The funding focuses on grid resilience, capacity, and deployment.

Grid Resilience: In this round of funding, DOE received applications requesting more than seven times the amount of funding available, an oversubscription rate of nearly 800 percent, demonstrating the tremendous need for these types of investments across the country. Improving grid resilience in the face of extreme weather events was a key need nationwide.

Grid Capacity: The projects announced this month will increase grid capacity, allow more renewable energy to reach customers across the country, and increase the speed of the interconnection process. Over $150 million will be invested in communities through workforce development, scholarships and apprentice programs, and community organization grants through these projects and more than 80 percent of the projects will work with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

Grid Deployment: DOE’S “Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Innovation Grid Deployment” report identified multiple advanced grid solutions that are commercially available now to quickly and cost effectively enhance grid capacity, including advanced transmission and grid-enhancing technologies used in many of these projects.

DOE expects to launch a third round of GRIP funding in 2025.