On Oct. 18, the Dept. of Energy awarded $3.5 billion for 58 grid-improving projects as part of the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program in the Grid Deployment Office. The funding is designed to support technologies and services that improve grid flexibility, generate at least 30 GW of clean energy and improve the resilience of the power system against the growing threats of extreme weather and climate change.

“We’re thrilled to see today’s GRIP grant announcement, a clear example of the bipartisan infrastructure law at work,” said Harrison Godfrey, managing director at Advanced Energy United. “The best use of public funds is to leverage it to unlock private sector investment and create new, good jobs across America.”

Two of the utilities receiving grants are California’s Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and Pennsylvania’s PECO Energy Company.

DOE anticipates the GRIP program will lead to $8 billion in combined public and private investment across 44 states.

“This announcement shows how important building new transmission is to making the transition to a 100% clean energy grid across the country,” added Godfrey. “The projects financed by this one announcement, alone, will increase the amount of renewable energy on the U.S. grid by 10%. That’s incredible! We need more investments like this to continue and accelerate this progress.”

United and its member companies look forward to continuing to work with DOE, as well as state and local leaders, to leverage dollars from the infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act to streamline permitting and get more clean infrastructure built.

News item from Advanced Energy United (formerly AEE)