California Receives $600M in Federal Funds to Improve Power Grid

SACRAMENTO — California has secured a $600 million federal grant to upgrade 100 miles of electric transmission lines with grid enhancing technologies to improve reliability and deliver clean, affordable electricity faster. 

The Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership or GRIP grant was awarded to a consortium that includes the California Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Independent System Operator, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, and Southern California Edison.

The agencies, grid operator and utilities will partner on the California Harnessing Advanced Reliable Grid Enhancing Technologies for Transmission (CHARGE 2T) program, which will expand transmission capacity and provide interconnection improvements to increase and accelerate equitable access to clean energy resources across the state.

The project will:

Support more than 300 direct jobs.

Enhance more than 100 miles of transmission lines with advanced conductor technologies that will help connect more clean energy resources than the existing grid can accommodate at this time. 

Deliver an estimated $200 million in energy savings from improved grid efficiency.

Create economic and community benefits for disadvantaged communities.

Invest in workforce training programs for the next generation of energy and utility workers.

Develop a portal to improve transparency and efficiency in the interconnection process.

Tribal collaborations

A Northern California electrical grid project, led by the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Karuk Tribe, and Yurok Tribe, also received $88 million in GRIP funding, which – with matching funds from various sources – will ultimately total about $200 million. The result of years of collaboration between California tribes, the state, and other public-private partnerships, this project will develop an innovative network of community microgrids to ultimately create a reliable, resilient, and decarbonized system.

The communities affected currently rely on the Hoopa 1101 circuit – one of the least reliable circuits in the PG&E service territory, seeing average outages twice the duration of most other circuits. The project’s innovative approach – developed in collaboration with a new grid services laboratory at Cal Poly Humboldt – addresses the difficulties posed by rugged, rural, and wildfire-prone environments, and will allow communities to move away from relying on fossil fuels. 

Details: Find clean energy projects in your community at build.ca.gov.