Biden administration announces $3.5B for investment in America’s electric grid : Maui Now

The Biden administration today announced $3.5 billion for 58 projects across 44 states to strengthen electric grid resilience and reliability.

This comes following an announcement in August of $95 million in federal funds from the program to harden the energy grids in Hawaiʻi following Maui’s devastating wildfires, and enable the state to better withstand severe weather-related events fueled by climate change. 

The new funding was announced today by White House Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu and Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

During her visit to Maui last month, Granholm highlighted the recently announced $95 million grant to harden Hawaiʻi’s electric grid saying it will allow Maui to build back better. She said the most safe option would be to move key transmission lines underground.

Funded by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these projects will leverage more than $8 billion in federal and private investments in an effort to deliver affordable, clean electricity and ensure that communities across the nation have a reliable grid that is prepared for extreme weather worsened by the climate crisis.

“Extreme weather events fueled by climate change will continue to strain the nation’s aging transmission systems, but President Biden’s Investing in America agenda will ensure America’s power grid can provide reliable, affordable power,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Today’s 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.”   

The Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program, managed by DOE’s Grid Deployment Office, 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.

Today’s announcements of up to $3.46 billion represent a first round of selections under the broader $10.5 billion GRIP Program. An estimated 86% of today’s selected projects contain labor union partnerships or will involve collective bargaining agreements. 

“The projects selected are helping maintain and create good-paying union jobs, with more than three-quarters of the projects selected having partnerships with the IBEW,” according to the announcement.