As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, White House Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu and Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm announced $3.46 billion for 58 projects across 44 states to strengthen electric grid resilience and reliability across America. Funded by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these projects will leverage more than $8 billion in federal and private investments to deliver affordable, clean electricity to all Americans and ensure that communities across the nation have a reliable grid that is prepared for extreme weather worsened by the climate crisis.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), these transformative projects, which will all support the President’s Justice40 Initiative to benefit disadvantaged communities, will help bring more than 35 gigawatts of new renewable energy online, invest in 400 microgrids, and maintain and create good-paying union jobs with three out of four projects partnering with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)—helping deliver on the Biden-Harris Administration's climate agenda.

“The announcement represents the largest-ever direct investment in critical grid infrastructure, supporting projects that will harden systems, improve energy reliability and affordability—all while generating union jobs for highly skilled workers,” said U.S Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.  

GRIP Program

The Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program, managed by DOE’s Grid Deployment Office (GDO), funds activities to modernize the electric grid to reduce impacts of natural disasters and extreme weather worsened by climate change; increase the flexibility, efficiency, and reliability of the electric power system with a particular focus on unlocking more solar, wind, and other clean energy and reducing faults that may lead to wildfires; and improve reliability by deploying innovative approaches to electricity transmission, storage, and distribution.

The announcements of up to $3.46 billion represent a first round of selections under the broader $10.5 billion GRIP Program, which itself is one of several tools from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda that DOE is using to strengthen, diversify, and expand America’s power grid while creating good-paying union jobs and building community climate resilience

All of selected projects have Justice40 commitments, and 86 percent either contain labor union partnerships or will involve collective bargaining agreements. In addition, the projects are helping maintain and create good-paying union jobs, with more than three-quarters of the projects selected having partnerships with the IBEW.

The renewable sector welcomes these measures

For its part, the American Clean Power Association (ACP) released the following statement from Vice President of Markets and Transmission Carrie Zalewski after the DOE announced this investment to support grid expansion in the US:

“This funding will help support the grid expansion America desperately needs to deploy clean energy resources. ?ACP and its members appreciate DOE’s diligent work in selecting high-value proposals to build new transmission, expedite interconnection, and improve the use of the existing grid with advanced technologies.?Targeted federal efforts, coupled with private capital and state policies, will help increase the role of reliable and affordable clean energy in serving customers, creating high-quality jobs, and ensuring a robust domestic supply chain for renewables and storage.?We look forward to working with DOE to ensure that subsequent rounds of funding can build upon today’s momentum.”