The Biden administration, through the US Department of Energy (DOE), today announced that applications are now open to states, tribes, and utilities to tap into $13 billion in new financing opportunities for the expansion and modernization of the US power grid.
The Grid Resilience Innovative Partnership (GRIP) program and the Transmission Facilitation Program are funded by the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Together, the two programs represent the largest single direct federal investment in critical transmission and distribution infrastructure. It’s also one of the first down payments on a more than $20 billion investment under the Biden administration’s Building a Better Grid Initiative.
The White House also announced a $2.3 billion program that funds grid resilience investments by states and tribes to reduce impacts due to extreme weather and natural disasters.
According to the DOE, independent estimates show that the US needs to expand electricity transmission systems by 60% by 2030, and may even need to triple current capacity by 2050 to accommodate a rapidly increasing supply of clean energy and meet growing power demand for EVs and electric home heating, as well as reduce power outages from severe weather due to climate change.
US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said:
With nearly 70% of the nation’s grid more than 25 years old, the President’s agenda is making historic investments that will strengthen the nation’s transmission grid to drive down energy costs, generate good-paying jobs, and help keep the lights on during extreme weather events.
https://electrek.co/2022/11/18/white-house-modernize-the-us-power-grid/....
These ambitious proposals could contain more facts and details. They claim these plans will improve circumstances for everyone, yet the intricate methods they plan to use to achieve these goals are usually not disclosed.
Some US states like texas have catastrophically failed to equip their wind turbines for cold weather. Cold weather states like alaska have used wind power consistently and reliably for many years throughout their coldest winters. There definitely is room for improvement and additional funding for improving those glaring aspects of the power grid. Which has arisen in recent times in full public view. Texas had an energy crisis relating to these issues fairly recently.
California also has severe power issues with rolling blackouts. It is possible that some of the issues and recent uptick in energy prices are correlated with rising oil and fossil fuels. Although if we're keeping track of progress, it has been claimed that the united states closed down 50 coal powered plants since 2016 when Trump took office. The majority of energy expansion in the USA has mainly been wind or solar energy.