Shift to Clean Energy Grid Presents Challenges for US Official

The Energy Department is starting programs to funnel billions into transmission lines, distribution grid networks, microgrids, and storage facilities as part of an attempt to spur more clean energy deployment, even as congressional efforts stall to overhaul infrastructure permitting.

The agency’s Grid Deployment Office, created in August, is facing the difficult task of allocating dollars in a way that achieves the most bang for the buck and satisfies industry, states, and environmental groups, Maria Robinson, the office’s director, told Bloomberg Law.

A case in point: It is weighing public comments due this month on a $10.5 billion initiative ...