The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $48.4 million to three states and nine tribal nations to help protect their electricity transmission system from natural disasters.
The government has now awarded more than $455.5 million in total from state and tribal grid resilience formula grants, the department said last week.
The financial support is a five-year, $2.3 billion program aimed at improving the reliability of power grids against extreme weather, wildfires and other weather-exacerbated disruptions.
Initiatives selected for grants focus on improving network infrastructure and maintaining a skilled workforce.
The latest cohort consists of Alaska, Utah, Virginia, the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, the Chalkyitsik People, the Potawatomi Citizen Nation, the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, the Galena People, the Match-e-be-nash -she-wish. Pottawatomi Band of Indians, Port Graham Native People, Seneca Indian Nation and Summit Lake Paiute Tribe.
“From remote and rural communities to urban centers, it is essential that every pocket of America has a strong and reliable energy grid that can deploy cleaner, cheaper energy to homes and businesses,” said Secretary ‘Energy Jennifer M Granholm in a statement.
Nearly half of the latest amount has gone to Alaska at $22 million, with the goal of alleviating “the energy burden and cost experienced by customers within disadvantaged communities or tribal lands, as well as all areas served by resiliency investment, due to inadequate power grid infrastructure,” the DOE announcement said.
Utah has raised $12 million for efforts to “retain an appropriately qualified workforce that may include partnering with unions and/or educational institutions with a particular focus on underrepresented or historically excluded workers.”
Virginia’s $11 million award is to fix “obsolete or defective energy infrastructure equipment and materials such as power lines, power poles, transformers and bucket trucks.”
The Potawatomi Citizens Nation has been allocated $1.3 million, which will be used to “enhance the tribal workforce, enable upgrades to failing infrastructure and advance energy justice by focusing on projects on the reservation.”
The Fort Sill Apache Tribe has received $684,000 “to address outdated or failing infrastructure and support tribal workforce development to support grid resiliency measures.”
The Seneca Nation of Indians has received $479,021 “to increase the skilled tribal energy workforce and invest in modernizing the power grid, including fixing outdated or failing infrastructure.”
The Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation has secured $458,123 to “enhance the tribal workforce, upgrade failing infrastructure and advance energy justice by focusing on projects on the reservation with preference for projects on trust lands.”
The Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians has received $183,155 “to increase the skilled workforce within the tribe, support good-paying jobs, address capacity constraints and invest in the modernization of the energy infrastructure”.
The Native Village of Port Graham has secured $181,493 to “support battery storage for critical facilities and improve partnerships between the tribe and utilities to support accessibility and better service to members of the tribe”.
The Summit Lake Paiute Tribe has allocated $115,833 to “increase the tribal workforce to support energy resiliency and will enable investments in grid modernization, while increasing electrification in response to evolving needs” .
The Galena Village has received $112,894 to “support a continuous supply of energy to consumers, reduce outage risks, develop backup energy projects and approaches, and advance partnerships with utilities to develop clean energy”.
The Village of Chalkyitsik has been allocated $112,439 to “develop battery energy storage for critical facilities and will help address the energy burden experienced by low-income tribal members.”
Granholm added, “Thanks to transformative investments in grid infrastructure under President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and the bipartisan Infrastructure Act, we are preparing the nation for a more resilient clean energy future.”
According to the DOE, the grants are funded through the Jobs and Infrastructure Investment Act, or the bipartisan Infrastructure Act, passed in 2021. They are administered through the Building a Better Grid Initiative.
The initiative aims to help provide clean energy. “The Building a Better Grid initiative will engage and collaborate early and often with states, tribal nations, industry, environmental groups and other stakeholders to ensure that transmission projects meet local needs and benefit communities,” said the DOE on January 12, 2022 announcing the initiative.
“Coordination with federal agencies is necessary to facilitate an efficient transmission permit process and conduct transmission-related research and development to continue to develop and reduce the costs of the necessary technologies.”
The US has set a goal of achieving carbon-free energy by 2035.
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