White House announces $13B to modernize the US power grid

[Hydrogen]

The Biden administration, through the US Department of Energy (DOE), today announced that applications are now open to states, tribes, and utilities to tap into $13 billion in new financing opportunities for the expansion and modernization of the US power grid.

The Grid Resilience Innovative Partnership (GRIP) program and the Transmission Facilitation Program are funded by the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Together, the two programs represent the largest single direct federal investment in critical transmission and distribution infrastructure. It’s also one of the first down payments on a more than $20 billion investment under the Biden administration’s Building a Better Grid Initiative.

The White House also announced a $2.3 billion program that funds grid resilience investments by states and tribes to reduce impacts due to extreme weather and natural disasters.

According to the DOE, independent estimates show that the US needs to expand electricity transmission systems by 60% by 2030, and may even need to triple current capacity by 2050 to accommodate a rapidly increasing supply of clean energy and meet growing power demand for EVs and electric home heating, as well as reduce power outages from severe weather due to climate change.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said:

With nearly 70% of the nation’s grid more than 25 years old, the President’s agenda is making historic investments that will strengthen the nation’s transmission grid to drive down energy costs, generate good-paying jobs, and help keep the lights on during extreme weather events.

https://electrek.co/2022/11/18/white-house-modernize-the-us-power-grid/

....


These ambitious proposals could contain more facts and details. They claim these plans will improve circumstances for everyone, yet the intricate methods they plan to use to achieve these goals are usually not disclosed.

Some US states like texas have catastrophically failed to equip their wind turbines for cold weather. Cold weather states like alaska have used wind power consistently and reliably for many years throughout their coldest winters. There definitely is room for improvement and additional funding for improving those glaring aspects of the power grid. Which has arisen in recent times in full public view. Texas had an energy crisis relating to these issues fairly recently.

California also has severe power issues with rolling blackouts. It is possible that some of the issues and recent uptick in energy prices are correlated with rising oil and fossil fuels. Although if we're keeping track of progress, it has been claimed that the united states closed down 50 coal powered plants since 2016 when Trump took office. The majority of energy expansion in the USA has mainly been wind or solar energy.

[Die_empty]

These ambitious proposals could contain more facts and details. They claim these plans will improve circumstances for everyone, yet the intricate methods they plan to use to achieve these goals are usually not disclosed.

This news is a welcomed development because most power grids in the US are outdated and might cause more harm than good if they are not maintained. There are opening for application to states and other interested localities. The methods of achieving this project might not be fully disclosed to the public but interested states can get all the details they need from US Department of Energy (DOE).

Some US states like texas have catastrophically failed to equip their wind turbines for cold weather. Cold weather states like alaska have used wind power consistently and reliably for many years throughout their coldest winters. There definitely is room for improvement and additional funding for improving those glaring aspects of the power grid. Which has arisen in recent times in full public view. Texas had an energy crisis relating to these issues fairly recently.

California also has severe power issues with rolling blackouts. It is possible that some of the issues and recent uptick in energy prices are correlated with rising oil and fossil fuels. Although if we're keeping track of progress, it has been claimed that the united states closed down 50 coal powered plants since 2016 when Trump took office. The majority of energy expansion in the USA has mainly been wind or solar energy.

This program provides the right platform or opportunities for the states in the US to adopt modern technology in the power sector so that the sector would become more environmental friendly and productive. A comprehensive situational analysis of the current state of the sector should be done and the methods of reducing some of its setbacks should be discovered and implemented.

[franky1]

here in the UK it costs (converted) about $25billion to create a nuclear power plant to sustain 6mill homes

so on that bases $16b would be ~4m households

there are 122million households in the US(30X of number above)

so to build enough nuclear plants to electrify america would be $480billion

yep far cheaper than covid or the 2008 bail out

so why is the biden administration only handing out $16b which is only 3% of households

[Gyfts]

so why is the biden administration only handing out $16b which is only 3% of households

It gives them their headline that they can push when it comes reelection time. $13B is pennies. Ukraine has gotten over 50 billion alone by the U.S. in direct aid, for reference. To modernize the energy infrastructure of a country with 330 million people, it would easily cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

And the way these government expenditures work is that out of 13 billion, a plurality will go to "administrative" fees paid to specific government contractors that are closely aligned with the politicians. These projects are never on time and never on budget.

These ambitious proposals could contain more facts and details. They claim these plans will improve circumstances for everyone, yet the intricate methods they plan to use to achieve these goals are usually not disclosed.

Precisely the point. You'd think if they were to spend that much, they'd at least be more expansive on the details. However, I suspect very little of these funds will actually go to infrastructure, but will rather fill the pockets of business executives.

[Gayong88]

Maybe the US power grid is outdated and less efficient. There are definitely many ways to fix this, such as by moving away from coal and investing in renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies.

The most effective way to do this is through free markets, not through government spending. The best the Government can do is stop hindering business development and lower barriers to entry for new energy companies trying to compete with legacy utilities.

[paxmao]

Yes, that is part of the program to modernise all those bottle-necks that silently hamper the US economy, such as river crossing, obsolete roads, unfinished infrastructure. At least that is the theory behind the "Biden Plan". In my experience all that optimised allocation tends to end up in a politically motivated allocation that is not very effective. At least it greases the economy.

[Captain Corporate]

This has been long waited, but it is also showing the size of USA at the same time as well. Imagine a nation that is spending 13 billion just to modernize their power grid, not to build it, not to make it from scratch, to just modernize it and the size is THAT huge, and on top of that the population is that huge and they have the money to do that. I mean these are the guys who spend 800+ billion on military every year, so 13 billion is nothing, but also look at NASA budget and you will weep. All in all, good move and I support it, not American myself, but at the very least money should go to make the life better for all people, not for war.

[STT]

The UK nuclear plan to clear 2030 is based on modular design and multiple instances spread around the country.  So not infrastructure exactly but distributed small scale plants over the prior large nuclear sites which were so gigantic it spanned possibly a half century in its project length.     I certainly think any modern country has to be dynamic and flexible and if thats possible in USA it needs to be done, it relates to job growth and opportunities across the nation not just the most populous states and cities.
  Theres few times I will argue in favor of large government programs but if it helps to reduce inequality in things like power distribution its probably a necessity that it occurs sooner rather then later.   One of the cross over points to BTC is that it can utilize cheap power in various spots across a nation to provide a tradable market, I dont know how to best describe it but its definitely a related subject.  Its true in China Europe, USA possible everywhere, power has great transmission losses so its a repeatable phenomenon the ability to distribute evenly is a challenge.

[Hispo]

I remember the situation many people from Texas had to endure the last winter. Where is supposed to be the capital of the energy in the USA got their water pipes frozen and many households also had electricity problems.

I had not thought about it, but now with this energy crisis and war in Ukraine; Texas and California could suffer more this year, specially since I have read (I am not sure whether it is true or not) that the administration of Mr.Biden is not fond of fossil fuels and have halted some drilling and pumping operations.

I have also got the impression California tends to take the worst part during summers, because the likelihood of wildfires and the high demand of power to keep houses cold.

Let us see if Biden's plan is enough to keep Texas warm this winter, if not I am expecting the Red party to get even more critical of him in news.

[Kakmakr]

In the United States: 6,660 people died from hypothermia or exposure to cold from 2006 to 2010, an average of 1,320 deaths a year. Source : https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/emergency-preparedness/cold-weather-stats.page ...so it is crucial that affordable and reliable energy are supplied in the States where there are colder weather.

This is becoming a huge problem for the people living in Europe, because more than 200 000 people die of cold and it is predicted that 335 000 people will die this year, because of the shortage of Gas and Oil in Europe.