The Biden administration on Wednesday announced it will put $3.5 billion toward electrical grid resilience projects.
The funds, provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will cover 58 projects across 44 states, Biden administration officials told reporters on a call Wednesday. It marks the largest single federal investment in the electrical grid in the history of the U.S.
The administration projected the funds will result in more than 35 gigawatts in new renewable energy being brought online. It also projected that 75 percent of the projects will involve partnerships with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union. The administration has repeatedly sought to assuage fears that transitioning to renewable energy will come at the expense of labor protections. United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain has called this a false choice, and renewable advocates hailed Fain’s announcement earlier in October that GM’s Lordstown, Ohio, electric vehicle battery plant will be added to the union’s master agreement.
The Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program will include major projects in Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Oregon. The projects also include several interstate regional projects, including one involving Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri and South Dakota; and a wildfire mitigation project involving Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
“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,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. “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 announcement comes months after an earlier Energy Department announcement of $95 million toward grid resilience in Hawaii, the site of devastating wildfires on the island of Maui over the summer.
Grid resilience has been a major priority for the Biden administration, and it has become a larger U.S. concern after extreme winter weather in 2021 knocked out Texas’s independently maintained electrical grid. Experts have warned that an increase in extreme weather, the intensity of which is exacerbated by climate change, leaves existing grid infrastructure vulnerable to the threat posed by such events.