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The US Department of Energy (US DOE) has announced to support 31 power grid improvement projects across 26 states with a combined USD 5.25 billion in federal and recipient funding, as per an official statement by the department.
The projects will receive USD 1.9 billion in federal funding from the DOE, along with USD 3.35 billion in cost-share funding from recipients, to strengthen grid reliability and reduce electricity costs for nearly 100 million Americans, the department said. Project recipients are expected to reconductor or rebuild more than 1,500 miles of transmission lines and deploy Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs) acrossnearly 21,000miles, the department said in an X post highlighting, these upgrades are expected to unlock more than 23 gigawatts of additional electricity capacity. Todays announcement reinforces the Trump Administrations commitment to commonsense energy addition policies that lower electricity prices and strengthen our grid, said US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, adding, These investments will get more out of the infrastructure we already have, move more electricity across the grid, and help deliver affordable, reliable, and secure power that will fuel American prosperity for decades to come. According to the release, the selected projects will maximise the use of existing rights-of-way to ease grid congestion and avoid costly greenfield construction, helping lower operating costs and reduce electricity bills for consumers. The SPARK projects are also expected to strengthen grid resilience by reducing wildfire risks, preventing blackouts and improving protection against severe weather events. This strategy will bypass the multi-decade timelines typicallyrequiredto build entirely new transmission corridors, delivering massive grid upgrades in record time, it said. Apart from this, SPARK is funded through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program.DOE is also releasing theSpeed to Power (STP) Request for Information (RFI) Analysis, which gathered industry feedback to help inform the design of the SPARK funding opportunity. These selected SPARK projects put advanced transmission technologies to work, modernizing critical infrastructure, maximizing the capacity of existing lines, and unlocking more than 20 gigawatts of additional grid capacity, saidOE Assistant Secretary Catherine Jereza, the department further added in its release. (ANI)
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