New York has been awarded nearly $24 million in federal funding to strengthen and modernize the State’s electric grid to reduce the impacts of weather and natural disasters. The Grid Resilience and Tribal Formula Grant from the U.S. Department of Energy under the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will provide support for New York projects that help ensure the reliability of the State’s power sector infrastructure and access to affordable and clean electricity for New Yorkers.
“As we’ve seen, the severity of extreme weather events is not slowing down and requires ongoing preparation and the buildout of our infrastructure to minimize the impacts of climate change on communities,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “This funding underscores the benefits that New York’s productive partnership with the federal government continues to bring to the state and will help us modernize our electric grid and its associated infrastructure as part of a future powered by clean energy.”
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), which submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on behalf of New York State, will administer the grant funds over a two-year period with the opportunity to apply for three additional years. NYSERDA plans to launch a competitive selection process in the first quarter of 2024 for projects that address goals in compliance with the award, which include:
- Storm Hardening: improving the resilience of the electric grid against disruptive events such as power outages due to storms that impact critical operations;
- Predictive Analytics: development of advanced data and metrics to detect electric system conditions before they become issues to support system reliability and resiliency;
- Climate Justice: reducing carbon emissions to ensure benefits of investments flow to communities that are underserved, marginalized and overburdened by pollution;
- Energy Affordability: deploying tools and technologies and ensuring optimized utilization of resources and electricity grid assets to reduce total system costs and address the burden of inadequate electricity distribution infrastructure; and
- Job Creation: increasing access to NYSERDA’s comprehensive workforce development portfolio of services for skilled clean energy workers.
New York is one of nine states and five tribal nations that were awarded a combined total of $125 million as the seventh cohort of Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants and will provide 15 percent matching funds through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative as part of DOE’s grant requirements.
