The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $29.9 million in the fourth rollout of a grant to protect the nation’s power grid.
The Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants have now awarded a total of nearly $354 million of the five-year, $2.3 billion program.
The latest disbursement covers three states, three tribal nations and an Alaskan Native Corp. Projects include investments in technology and manpower.
“All communities deserve clean, affordable energy for their homes and businesses, a need that is only exacerbated during extreme weather events like the historic flooding and heat waves affecting parts of the country this summer,” Energy Secretary Jennifer M Granholm said in the announcement.
Ohio has been allocated the highest amount among the latest cohort, at $14 million, to “improve grid reliability by reducing the frequency and duration of outages in disadvantaged communities, while improving resiliency to address all hazards, including future climate implications,” the DOE said.
“The grants will be used to demonstrate community benefits through metrics developed with community input, with a focus on improving customer experience and communication,” he added.
Connecticut has won $6.5 million, which will be used to “support the efficient and reliable integration of variable and distributed energy resources needed to achieve the state’s zero-carbon electricity sector goal and avoid peak fossil generation,” the department said. The grant is specifically intended to increase the reliability of the electricity supply system and to ensure a skilled local workforce for the grid, with labor support prioritizing disadvantaged communities.
Vermont has secured $6 million to support electric investment in underserved communities and critical facilities, as well as to expand the human resources needed to maintain the grid.
The Muscogee Creek Nation has received $1.8 million “to support critical tribal facilities, implement technologies to improve and upgrade network control and operation infrastructure, and support tribal workforce development.”
Cook Inlet Region Inc. has secured $500,000 to “reduce impacts to critical facilities from disruptive events, support workforce development, and address outdated or failing network infrastructure.”
The Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians in California has received $287,000 to “develop distributed energy resources and microgrids to increase energy supply resiliency, address tribal energy justice to reduce impacts on disadvantaged communities, and support energy workforce development.”
The village of Dot Lake rounds out the list of latest recipients, getting $149,000 to “reduce outage risks through asset management and preventive maintenance, as well as plan for the development of battery storage for critical facilities.”
With the latest cohort, DOE has provided the Resilience Grant to 23 states, 12 tribal entities, and the District of Columbia.
The department has increased the stretch this year “to better account for the likelihood of disruptive events on tribal lands,” the agency announced May 5. The DOE has also extended the application deadline to August 31 for Indian tribes.
The latest data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that US consumers experienced more than seven hours of power outages in 2021.
“When major events, including snowstorms, hurricanes, and wildfires, are excluded, the average duration of annual outages remained constant at about two hours per year from 2013 to 2021,” the EIA reported on November 14, 2022.
“Customers in Louisiana, Oregon, Texas, Mississippi and West Virginia experienced the longest power outages in 2021, ranging from nearly 19 hours in West Virginia to more than 80 hours in Louisiana,” he said.
“Louisiana also had the highest number of power outages, followed by Texas,” the EIA added, noting that 2021 was “the third most active Atlantic weather season on record.”
In February of that year, Winter Storm Uri caused blackouts for about 4.5 million people in Louisiana and Oklahoma. Louisiana was later hit by Hurricane Ida in August 2021 with 1.2 million customers without power, and saw half a million people without power again as a result of Hurricane Nicholas about two weeks later, according to EIA figures.
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