Since day one, President Biden has positioned America as a leader in the global race for a clean energy future, including taking ambitious steps to deliver a clean, reliable power grid that will help ensure communities don’t lose electricity in case of extreme weather conditions. events, reduce energy costs for hard-working families and create good-paying jobs – all while tackling the climate crisis. Under the president’s leadership, the United States is expected to build more new power generation capacity this year than it has in two decades – or 96% of that power is clean. Additionally, ten major transmission projects have begun construction, which are expected to connect nearly 20 gigawatts of new energy to the grid. America is investing tens of billions to strengthen our grid to build resilience, enhance energy security, and spur innovation. And in recent weeks, the Biden-Harris administration has taken crucial steps to expand the nation’s power grid — from making the federal permitting process for new transmission lines more efficient to launching a public-private mobilization to modernize 160,000 miles of existing lines.
Today, the Biden-Harris administration is building on this momentum by launching a Initiative for the deployment of a modern network between the federal state and the federal statewith commitments from 21 leading states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin. Building on the legislative achievements and executive actions of the Biden-Harris Administration to address the challenge of grid modernization, the initiative aims to bring together states, federal entities and electricity sector stakeholders to contribute to rapid and cost-effective adaptation of the network to meet challenges and opportunities. facing the electricity sector in the 21st century.
Participating States committed to prioritizing efforts that support the adoption of modern grid solutions to increase grid capacity and build modern grid capabilities on new and existing transmission and distribution lines. Historically, expanding U.S. power grid capacity has typically relied on building new transmission lines using technologies that have not changed since the mid-20th century. Today, a new generation of modern grid technologies offers a significant opportunity to expand the capacity of the electricity system, particularly through high-performance conductors that have the advantage of being able to transport double or more the amount of energy conventional transmission cables, as well as grid enhancement technologies that maximize the transmission of electricity through the existing system through a family of technologies including sensors, power flow control devices and analytical tools. These solutions increase capacity and throughput based on real-time conditions. Deploying these tools means that renewables and other clean energy sources can be integrated sooner and more cost-effectively than waiting for new transmission networks to be built, helping to address challenges more quickly. growth, create good-paying jobs, and reduce Americans’ utility bills.
Along with this announcement, the U.S. Climate Alliance announced the availability of policy, technical, and analytical assistance to help participating members advance state-level efforts to meet these commitments. At the same time, the Department of Energy is developing a host of technical assistance programs that can support varying levels of analysis for utilities, policymakers, regulators, state energy offices and other parties stakeholders.
In particular, the 21 signatory states as inaugural members will focus on:
- Address the shared challenges and opportunities of increasing load growth, a rapidly changing energy landscape, aging infrastructure and new grid-enhancing technologies, while providing reliable, clean and affordable energy to consumers.
- Deploy innovative grid technologies to strengthen the capacity of our electricity grid and more efficiently meet current and future demand, maximize the benefits of new and existing transportation infrastructure, increase grid resilience to the growing impacts of climate change, and better protect consumers against the variability of energy prices. .
Last month, the Biden-Harris administration announced a public-private mobilization to upgrade 100,000 miles of existing lines with these types of high-impact solutions over the next five years, as part of a series of announcements in the electricity sector. The Administration advances this objective by:
Catalyzing Nationwide Collaboration on Modern Network Technologies: Governors, regulators, utilities, unions and industry all play a critical role in determining how energy infrastructure will be built. That’s why the Biden-Harris Administration is bringing these stakeholders together at the White House today to explore innovative policy solutions to unlock the deployment of modern network technologies and share best practices. The federal government stands ready to provide technical and financial assistance and can help establish additional forums to ensure that the best ideas from states, industry, and community stakeholders can be more easily shared.
Accelerate the granting of permits thanks to new categorical exclusions for renewal:
Previously, projects to upgrade a transmission line longer than 20 miles could trigger a detailed environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Energy Department last month expanded a categorical exclusion for the modernization and reconstruction of transmission lines, replacing previous length limits. DOE also modified categorical exclusions for certain energy storage and solar projects on previously developed land. With these changes, most renewal projects are now eligible for the simplest form of environmental review, which can shave years off project development time and help realize the benefits of transportation expansion even earlier.
Fund the deployment of advanced network technologies: President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the bipartisan Infrastructure Act (BIL) provided the largest investment in history to strengthen the nation’s power grid, including programs that can support modernization of transport lines. For example, DOE’s Grid Deployment Office administers $10.5 billion in competitive grants through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program. The first round of GRIP awards included 10 projects that will help deploy network improvement technologies and calls for applications for the second round placed even more emphasis on these solutions. DOE’s Office of Loan Programs has a $250 billion loan guarantee authorization to provide low-interest financing for projects to upgrade existing energy infrastructure, with program guidance that highlights before renewal as an example of an eligible project. The Department of Agriculture’s Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program provides $9.7 billion in low-interest loans or grants and represents the largest investment in rural electrification since 1936, with eligibility for modernization of the transport system.
Each of these programs advances President Biden’s Justice40 initiative, which sets a goal that 40 percent of overall benefits from certain federal investments in climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments go to disadvantaged communities who are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
Strengthening administrative achievements on new transport lines: The Biden-Harris administration’s new goal to increase capacity on existing transmission lines will be accompanied by a historic set of actions aimed at accelerating construction of new projects. Since 2021, ten major transmission projects have begun construction, expected to connect nearly 20 gigawatts (GW) of new generation to the grid and reflecting more than $22 billion in investment, including several projects on public lands that have received the approval of the Ministry of the Interior. The Department of Energy has issued a final rule to launch the Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorization and Permit Program (CITAP), which streamlines the federal permitting process for eligible electricity transmission projects and helps establish a standard two-year schedule for authorizations and permits, thereby reducing the average. half time. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a final rule on regional transmission planning and cost allocation, Order 1920, which adopts specific requirements regarding how transportation providers must plan for long-range facilities regional transport networks, consider the use of advanced drivers and network. Improve technologies and determine how to finance them in order to build the necessary transmission.
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