Biden Administration Clears $1.5 Billion for Power Grid Projects

The Biden administration is teeing up $1.5 billion to build nearly 1,000 miles of new transmission lines across six states in the federal government’s latest bid to improve electric grid reliability.

Thursday’s announcement marks the second round of funding through the Department of Energy’s Transmission Facilitation Program. The four new projects are expected to create 7,100 megawatts of additional capacity throughout Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, according to a press release from the US Department of Energy.

“Building new transmission is extremely challenging, and it’s also extremely important,” David Turk, DOE’s deputy secretary, told reporters on a call Wednesday.

Expanding the country’s transmission system could save national electric systems up to $490 billion through 2050, according to the department’s new National Transmission Planning Study.

But clean energy and clean energy transmission have long experienced bottlenecks at every level, John Podesta, senior adviser to the president for international climate policy, said on Wednesday’s press call.

“We need to more than double our current transmission capacity,” Podesta said. “The climate crisis is already straining our existing grid infrastructure” when it’s needed most.

The $1.5 billion investment, authorized under the 2021 federal infrastructure law, will create 9,000 construction jobs and 350 permanent jobs, Turk said.

Selected projects—dubbed Aroostook Renewable Project, Cimarron Link, Southern Spirit, and Southline—will enter capacity contract negotiations with the Energy Department.

The transmission program’s $1.3 billion first round of funding was announced almost one year ago. Previously selected projects have since signed contracts with the federal Energy Department, Turk said.