Biden administration earmarks $13b to modernize electric grid
- Reference: 1669050283
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/11/21/us_13b_electric_grid/
- Source link:
Utilizing funds from the [1]Bipartisan Infrastructure Law , the Grid Resilience Innovation Partnership (GRIP) and Transmission Facilitation Programs have opened applications to grid operators, power companies, researchers, local governments, and other entities seeking to pitch projects – and none too soon.
According to the Department of Energy, the US needs to add 60 percent more electrical transmission capacity to the grid by 2030, and may need to triple current capacity by 2050 to accommodate the transition to clean energy and additional demand from home and automotive electrification.
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At the same time, "nearly 70 percent of the nation's grid [is] more than 25 years old," said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. "We are moving swiftly to deliver cleaner, cheaper energy to every American community by building a modern and reliable electric grid."
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The Department of Energy said earlier this year that it was confident that the US grid could [5]run entirely on clean energy .
Getting a GRIP on the grid
Of the $13 billion allocated in the announcement, $10.5 billion of it is going to the GRIP program, which was established "to enhance grid flexibility and improve the resilience of the power system against growing threats of extreme weather and climate change," the DoE said.
There are three areas to bid for funds from: $2.5 billion for grid resilience, $3 billion for smart grids, and $5 billion for innovative grid concepts.
Organizations seeking funds for resiliency initiatives will need to show ideas for "transmission and distribution technology solutions that will mitigate multiple hazards across a region or within a community," by which the DoE is referring to weather events like extreme cold, storms, wildfires and similar.
[6]Shocker: EV charging infrastructure is seriously insecure
[7]California to phase out gas furnaces, water heaters by 2030
[8]California asks people not to charge EVs during heatwave
[9]One way Bitcoin miners can make money: Selling electricity back to Texas
Smart grid grants are what they sound like, and will allocate funds for organizations planning to "increase the flexibility, efficiency, reliability, and resilience of the electric power system." In this case the DoE is looking for projects focusing on increasing capacity transmission systems and developing software that can anticipate and prevent faults due to events like extreme weather.
Grid Innovation grants will help grid owners and operators "deploy projects that use innovative approaches to transmission, storage, and distribution infrastructure to enhance grid resilience and reliability."
Getting ahead of the lowest bidder
The Transmission Facilitation Program is getting the remaining $2.5 billion, which will be put into a revolving fund that seems to have been created to prevent cheap construction of power lines that would undercut future electrification.
Using the $2.5 billion, the DoE will commit to buying up to 50 percent of the maximum capacity of newly installed transmission lines. The DoE plans to fund late-stage projects with the cash, which it hopes will increase investor and customer confidence, along with reducing "the risk of project developers under-building or under-sizing needed transmission capacity projects," the DoE said.
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The Biden administration has set a deadline for the US to transition to 100 percent clean electricity by 2035, and for the federal government to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, which may [11]still not be enough to offset the effects of climate change. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/10/us_broadband_infrastructure/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y3wDBm0V-y0VZF7i8KL-hQAAAIU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y3wDBm0V-y0VZF7i8KL-hQAAAIU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/03/the_us_grid_is_ready/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/15/ev_charging_infrastructure_sandia/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/26/california_to_phase_out_gas/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/01/california_ev_heatwave/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/03/texas_bitcoin_power/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y3wDBm0V-y0VZF7i8KL-hQAAAIU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/14/climate_change_prevention_plans_way/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Socialism
PG&E is on a whole different level. Musk would have to launch a rocket into a city, be convicted, do it a few more times, and then ask for government money to support investor dividends during hard times.
Re: Socialism
In other news Musk puts in a bid for Enron
Re: Socialism
Enron has been defunct for almost 21 years. Not even Musk is stupid enough to try to do anything with that.
Re: Socialism
The grid would be much more reliable after five or ten years if is was completely controlled and organized by politicians (in the US and the UK) because when they screwed up and failed power for the voters then they would be replaced by politicians promising a complete effort to deliver power to all communities.
Organizations get wealthy by fiddling with the grid, not powering it. Politicians would get elected if they didn't screw up and everyone had a warm home in the winter and a cool one in the summer.
Where is all that power going to come from dreams and unicorns?
Quebec Hydro.
Enjoy your cheese-flavoured electricity Americans ....
How long before Quebec Hydro is silted up?
Do not want. Need long term 'lecy. Nuclear, please.
IT does not matter
The Climate Change deniers/drill baby drill sections of the GQP will do their very best to block this just like they are doing with the Student Debt Relief.
In the next two years, nothing of substance will happen in the US Government other than the multitude of inquiries and impeachments of Pres Biden that they have promised.
meanwhile.... the world temp continues to rise and I'm sure that we'll soon see millions on the march due to famine and drought. Oh wait... parts of the USA are already in the middle of a drought.
Numpties the lot of them.
Re: IT does not matter
But apart from Florida being underwater and Texas becoming an apocalyptic hell scape, there are downsides to climate change
Re: IT does not matter
But Florida, being mostly swamp, IS underwater, and never within living memory has Texas not been a living hell ... What does climate change have to do with that?
Re: IT does not matter
Well the pretentious veggie hipters will run out Almond "milk"...oh you said downsides.
Re: IT does not matter
I'm sure plenty more big meetings will be held in far off places visited by the elites in their private jets and eating the very best food they can get so they can tell us again we 'need to do more and it is going to cost'. We will pay and nothing will change.
Re: IT does not matter
The Climate Change deniers/drill baby drill sections of the GQP will do their very best to block this just like they are doing with the Student Debt Relief.
The problem the Reality deniers have is contained in this statement-
"to enhance grid flexibility and improve the resilience of the power system against growing threats of extreme weather and climate change," the DoE said.
So assuming this is the real threat, then you'd think you'd be designing an energy policy around stuff that isn't vulnerable to extreme weather, or climate change. Hmm..
https://external-preview.redd.it/2tVYdo6Ca0C6nQvThzJ6-5jM6wEoJcnEqTaZxNDig2s.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=9ed1a8aa36a85352c8c9fba40c3fceac4bea1494
https://us.v-cdn.net/6024911/uploads/attachments/5897/3286.jpg
Second being a rooftop installation vs hail in Missouri. Then of course there's wind. So windmills don't spin when there's no wind, or get damaged if there's too much. But for some strange reason (ok, lobbying $$$) climate 'experts' predict extreme weather, and promote 'solutions' that are vulnerable to that weather.
Then of course there's the cost, but that'll just be added to everyone's bills, so 33,500 climate 'experts' can carry on flying to jollies like they've just had in Egypt. Where they could dine on the finest steak, and not bug protein. On expenses, of course. Some day, some of these experts may realise we've kinda evolved to a point where we let the animals that can digest insect proteins do the hard work, then we eat those digestable animal proteins.
Then again, the 'highlight' from COP27 was a 'loss and damage' fund to go on top of the $100bn a year the climate lobbyists are demanding.
Re: IT does not matter
"So assuming this is the real threat, then you'd think you'd be designing an energy policy around stuff that isn't vulnerable to extreme weather"
You mean when Texas' gas pipelines froze? You know, the one where the fossil champions blamed the wind turbines they have, for the massive problems?
Re: IT does not matter
You mean when Texas' gas pipelines froze? You know, the one where the fossil champions blamed the wind turbines they have, for the massive problems?
The pipelines didn't freeze. In a genius move, Obama era EPA decided that gas transportation must be decarbonised. So instead of tapping off product, running it through a gas turbine or generator and providing electricity.. It was mandated that gas pumping must use 'clean' energy. So pumping stations got hooked up to the Texas power grid. Then the windmills froze, electricity supply dropped, gas couldn't be pumped and some Texans died.
Obviously the solution to blocking high pressure weather systems that lead to the Texas freeze is windmills that don't spin, on account of low/no wind and icing, and solar panels that need to be heated.. some how to melt snow & ice that will cover them. But that's neo-luddites for you. Part of me wonders how 'grid scale' batteries would cope in similar conditions. Sure, it'll be cold, but if that could mean ventilation & cooling systems ice up, and they overheat anyway.
Can we
divert that money over this side of the pond
We could do with it too.... since our political parties are too busy pissing into the wind to even notice how much of our infrastucture is kaput
Who the hell cares about transmission capability?
What we need is generation capability. Has nobody noticed the rolling blackouts/brownouts that we are having right now, today?
And that means the elephant in the room ... Nuclear power. It is the only way out of this mess.
Please note that the existing wire can handle it (with normal, routine maintenance), at least for the next couple decades.
Re: Who the hell cares about transmission capability?
And that means the elephant in the room ... Nuclear power. It is the only way out of this mess.
But.. but.. Nuclear is evil! The cynic in me wonders if the reason our fearless leaders aren't saying much about Ukraine repeatedly shelling a NPP is because we haven't had a nuclear 'disaster' in a while. And pesky engineers are asking why we're still tilting at windmills.
Please note that the existing wire can handle it (with normal, routine maintenance), at least for the next couple decades.
But can it? I've read a few reports that there are potentially huge problems with the local distribution grids. Those weren't really designed to support everyone being forced to convert to electric heating, cooking and rapid EV charging.
Re: Who the hell cares about transmission capability?
You say the existing wire can handle it, but the US infrastructure is well known for being antiquated, mismanaged and partisan where an minor outage in one area can cascade and cause multiple outages in others.
Great opportunity
Hopefully they can make the network more resilient to geomagnetic storms/EMP. If not, we are throwing good money after bad. Let's do it right.
Socialism
Surely the grid would be more reliable if it was run by efficient American corporations. Has anybody called Musk?