Electric cooperatives and other rural utilities won substantial funding to better protect their systems against extreme weather, meet growing demand and lower costs for consumers under a new $2 billion round of a major Department of Energy program.
The funding will be provided through the DOE’s $10.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program, which was created through the bipartisan infrastructure law of 2021 to enhance grid flexibility while ensuring access to affordable, reliable power.
As part of the new GRIP round, NRECA and 12 electric rural utilities led by Georgia Transmission Corp. were picked to negotiate $97.9 million in funding for new and upgraded transmission infrastructure, part of rural utility efforts to strengthen grid resilience using advanced technologies. The money will support the Smart Technology for Advanced Resilient Transmission (START) project, which seeks to build, rebuild or reconductor transmission infrastructure and increase electric transfer capacity, including through use of advanced overhead conductors.
The consortium funding will support 13 transmission projects across 11 states.
“Electric cooperatives are leaders in finding innovative ways to reliably power their communities,” NRECA CEO Jim Matheson said. “This federal funding is an important tool as they work to meet tomorrow’s energy needs.”
Rural utilities getting the GRIP funds could help meet the growing need for transmission capacity amid new sources of demand and an aging grid. The U.S. must replace 200,000 miles of existing transmission lines over the next decade, according to some estimates.
“As electricity demand in the U.S. continues to increase, upgrading and building new transmission will be critical,” Matheson said. “Electric co-ops are working together to reliably meet these increased energy needs.”
In addition to Georgia Transmission Corp., other rural utilities getting the new START project awards are:
- Arizona Electric Power Cooperative Inc. (Benson, Arizona)
- Carteret Craven Electric Membership Corp. (Newport, North Carolina)
- Dairyland Power Cooperative (La Crosse, Wisconsin)
- East Kentucky Power Cooperative (Winchester, Kentucky)
- East River Electric Power Cooperative Inc. (Madison, South Dakota)
- Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative Inc. (Calais, Maine)
- Elkhorn Rural Public Power District (Battle Creek, Nebraska)
- Great River Energy (Maple Grove, Minnesota)
- Northern Rio Arriba Electric Cooperative (Chama, New Mexico)
- Ozarks Electric Cooperative Corp. (Fayetteville, Arkansas)
- Polk County Rural Public Power District (Stromsburg, Nebraska)
The new round of GRIP funding also included a variety of other co-op projects:
- Tennessee Valley Authority (Nashville, Tennessee): $250 million to support TVA and project partners, including some co-ops, on grid resilience projects across eight states.
- Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative (Bloomington, Indiana) and Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (Marion, Illinois): $116.8 million to build new transmission feeds to loop transmission to 10 substations in seven counties.
- Jones-Onslow Electric Membership Corp. (Jacksonville, North Carolina): $42.3 million for enhancements including a new step-down station, new transmission lines to provide feeds from multiple sources, and structure hardening of existing facilities.
- Rita Blanca Electric Cooperative Inc. (Dalhart, Texas): $40.7 million to construct a new 55-mile transmission line between Dalhart, Texas and the Three-Corners Substation at the Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico border.
- Delaware County Electric Cooperative (Delhi, New York): $27.7 million for grid resilience projects to avoid outages caused by weather events and tree damage due to invasive species.
- Black Hills Electric Cooperative Inc. (Custer, South Dakota): $20.54 million for grid technology, a wildfire alert system and system operations tools to mitigate risk from high winds, extreme temperatures and wildfires in South Dakota and Nebraska.
- Randolph Electric Membership Corp. (Asheboro, North Carolina): $11.5 million to replace 24 aging circuit ties over 50 miles and install advanced predictive maintenance and fault location devices.
- Tombigbee Electric Cooperative (Hamilton, Alabama): $11.2 million to modernize its electric distribution system, including with energy storage, reconductoring and deploying a distributed energy resources management system.
- Kotzebue Electric Association (Kotzebue, Alaska): $7.5 million to improve its power plant to protect against blizzards and extreme weather.
Molly Christian is a staff writer for NRECA.