US invests $3.5 billion to bolster power grid, deploy clean energy

investing.com:

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden's administration on Wednesday announced $3.5 billion in grants for projects to protect the aging U.S. power grid from extreme weather and fires and to connect transmission systems with more electricity from renewable energy sources.

The funding for 58 projects across 44 states comes from the bipartisan infrastructure law Biden signed in 2021, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said, and is the largest-ever direct investment in the grid.

The U.S. power grid, much of it built nearly a century ago, is being strained by storms, floods and heat waves fueled by climate change even as electric vehicles and artificial intelligence are boosting power demand, Granholm told reporters in a call.

In 2021, the Texas grid collapsed during a cold spell, killing more than 200 people and leaving millions of homes without power. Wildfires have harmed the grid in other states.

«The grid, as it currently sits, is not equipped to handle all the new demand… we need it to be bigger, we need it to be stronger, we need it to be smarter, to bring all of these new projects online,» Granholm said.

The projects will help bring more than 35 gigawatts of new electricity onto the grid from wind and solar and other renewable power and invest in 400 microgrids, or self sufficient energy systems, the Department of Energy (DOE) said. More than 75% of the projects have partnerships with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union and the aim is to maintain or create union jobs, it said.

It was the first round of selections under the broader $10.5 billion grid resilience and innovation partnerships program managed by DOE.

More than $507 million will go the Georgia Environmental