The U.S. power grid is under duress. Increasingly frequent and severe weather events, growing electricity demand, and the need to interconnect more clean energy generation mandate a retooling of the grid. Frankly, it needs to serve us in a more modern fashion.
Today the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced nearly $2 billion for 38 projects in support of that pursuit, deployed through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program. The GRIP funding will go toward protecting the grid against growing threats of extreme weather, lowering electricity costs for communities, and increasing capacity to meet load growth stemming from the recent rise of manufacturing, data centers, and electrification. DOE received applications requesting more than seven times the funding available, demonstrating the need for these types of investments nationwide.
The selected projects span 42 states and the District of Columbia. They’ll roll out innovative transmission and distribution infrastructure and technology upgrades to collectively enable more than 7.5 gigawatts (GW) of grid capacity and speed up interconnection for new clean energy projects. The 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.
This funding also supports the Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments in climate, clean energy, and other areas flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. The projects will support nearly 6,000 good-paying jobs and catalyze more than $4.2 billion in total public and private investment, according to the DOE. More than $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% of the projects will work with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
“We need our grid better adapted to storms like Hurricanes Helene and Milton – and other extreme climate disasters like the wildfires out west. 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,” said White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi. “Today’s investment will do that. And today’s investment will lower energy costs and bolster grid resilience.”
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. The first round of GRIP funding was announced in October 2023 and included $3.5 billion for 58 projects in 44 states. In August 2024, DOE announced another $2.2 billion for eight additional selections.
With today’s selections, the Grid Deployment Office has announced a cumulative $7.6 billion in federal funding for 104 projects through the GRIP program, expected to enable 55 GW of grid capacity which can power more than 40 million homes annually. The GRIP projects announced in October 2023 and August 2024 will upgrade an additional 1,650 miles of transmission.
Selected projects improving reliability and resilience:
- Arizona – With the risk of wildfires increasing in the Southwest, Arizona Public Service Company (APS) will use $70M in combined awards to upgrade system devices, monitoring systems, upgrade wood utility poles, and implement microgrids in vulnerable areas to enhance energy reliability and resilience for 289,000 meters customers. Approximately 69% of the project will be carried out in rural, Tribal, or disadvantaged communities and APS estimates it will prevent nearly one million customer interruptions and save $113 million in emergency repair costs.
- Indiana and Illinois – Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative ($116M+) and Southern Illinois Power Cooperative will build new transmission feeds to loop transmission to 10 substations in seven counties. These substations face increasing outages from extreme weather events and tornados. Adding looped transmission will increase grid resilience and reduce outages by providing backup connections to additional substations.
- North Carolina – Randolph Electric Membership Corporation will receive more than $11M to deploy a suite of grid system upgrades to improve service reliability and resilience within REMC’s system, support targeted grid modernization improvements, and reduce outage duration while providing direct benefits to rural and underserved communities in North Carolina. The hardened grid will reduce outages from severe weather events for 32,000 customers in an area vulnerable to hurricanes. The area was affected by Winter Storm Finn in 2024 and Hurricane Ian in 2022.
- Texas – Entergy Texas, Inc. (ETI) will use more than $53M in GRIP funding to enhance grid resilience in disadvantaged communities in Port Arthur, Texas by fortifying critical infrastructure to withstand extreme weather events, which have historically caused significant power disruptions. The project will improve grid reliability, with expected savings of $74M over 50 years by reducing power interruptions and reducing restoration costs.
Selected projects increasing capacity while adding jobs and economic benefits:
- Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia – The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and its project partners will conduct 84 resilience subprojects across eight states to add over 2,400 MW of transmission grid capacity, reduce TVA’s solar interconnection queue, and reduce outage time. This $250M+ project will create the first interconnection tie between TVA and the Southwest Power Pool, providing TVA and local power companies with 800 MW of new energy supply. The project will provide an anticipated 94% reduction in localized outage durations and provide 360 disadvantaged communities with an estimated $250 million in economic benefit.
- Massachusetts – Boston-based GridUnity will receive $49.5M to deploy software to improve the efficiency of the interconnection process with multiple Regional Transmission Organizations covering approximately 70% of the U.S. population—around 210 million people—to enhance energy reliability, security, and lower costs. DOE’s Transmission Interconnection Roadmap found that interconnection queue delays “significantly delay clean energy deployment and lead to higher costs for project developers and electricity consumers.” By modernizing the interconnection process, the project will significantly reduce the time required to review, approve, and commission new generation interconnections across the country and accelerate the approval of generation projects and grid developments that could employ 51,300 skilled workers.
Selected projects enhancing capacity with Liftoff tech:
DOE’s Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Innovative Grid Deployment report identified multiple advanced grid solutions that are commercially available today to quickly and cost-effectively enhance grid capacity, including advanced transmission and grid-enhancing technologies used in many of these projects. GRIP projects that align with report findings include:
- Connecticut – Elevate Renewables will use $27.5M in federal funding to reconfigure an existing fossil-fueled peaking generating station in Milford, Connecticut, integrating a 20 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) to create a carbon-neutral synchronous condensing solution, or “green sync.” With over 1,000 combustion turbine sites across the United States, the project has the potential to be scaled nationwide.
- Georgia – Led by Georgia Transmission Corporation, a consortium of 12 not-for-profit rural utilities in 11 states will use nearly $100M in awards to build, rebuild, or reconductor transmission infrastructure to improve resilience and increase electric transfer capacity by deploying advanced overhead conductors (AOHC).
A full list of GRIP projects, including awards finalized to date, is available here. DOE expects to launch a third round of GRIP funding in 2025.
