DOE recently highlighted opportunities that may interest WAPA customers and stakeholders
Over the past two weeks, the Department of Energy has announced three opportunities that may interest WAPA customers and stakeholders. DOE’s Grid Deployment Office recently released a Notice of Intent to open the FY25 Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants application and allocation request period. GDO also announced an opportunity to provide input on the public engagement framework and scope of analysis for three potential National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors and made technical assistance available for states participating in long-term regional transmission planning.
On Dec. 17, GDO published fiscal year 2025 grant allocation amounts and released a Notice of Intent (download the DE-FOA-0003486 document) to open the FY25 Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants application and allocation request period in February 2025. The application period will open with DOE issuing an amended Administrative and Legal Requirements Document providing instructions for FY25 grant allocation requests. These grants help modernize the electric grid to reduce the impacts of extreme weather and natural disasters while also ensuring the reliability of the power sector.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law authorized GDO to distribute up to $2.3 billion in Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants to states, territories and federally recognized Indian tribes, including Alaska Native Regional Corporations and Alaska Native Village Corporations, based on a formula that includes factors such as population size, land area, probability and severity of disruptive events, and a locality’s historical expenditures on mitigation efforts. The states, territories and Indian tribes will then award these funds to eligible entities to complete a diverse set of projects, with priority given to efforts that generate the greatest community benefit while providing affordable and reliable energy.
DOE expects to issue the ALRD amendment and begin accepting applications in February 2025. Learn more at GDO’s website.
On Dec. 16, GDO announced a public input opportunity on the public engagement framework and scope of analysis for three potential National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors. It also released a list of three potential NIETCs moving to the next phase of the designation process. A NIETC is an area of the country where DOE has determined the lack of adequate transmission harms consumers and the development of transmission would advance important national interests in that area, such as increased reliability and reduced consumer costs. DOE recently established a four-phase process for NIETC designation; the potential NIETCs moving to Phase 3 of the designation process are:
- Lake Erie-Canada Corridor, including parts of Lake Erie and Pennsylvania
- Southwestern Grid Connector Corridor, including parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and a small portion of western Oklahoma
- Tribal Energy Access Corridor, including central parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and five tribal reservations
A 60-day comment period is now open to solicit comments on DOE’s proposed public engagement framework and possible scope of analysis of the potential NIETCs, including environmental, cultural or socioeconomic effects should DOE designate any of the potential NIETCs. Additional public engagement will occur after this initial comment period. In addition, DOE is providing the names of known transmission projects under development within the potential NIETCs, as well as anticipated next steps of the NIETC process.
Learn more, including the dates of the upcoming informational webinars, in the GDO news release.
In a Dec. 5 news release, GDO announced the technical assistance available to states to help them engage in transmission planning activities, including new long-term regional transmission planning processes being developed in response to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order No. 1920. The FERC order requires regional transmission planning entities to conduct long-term and more comprehensive regional transmission planning and expands the role of state entities in informing the processes and determining how the costs of new transmission facilities will be allocated to customers.
GDO is offering technical assistance to states to participate in the six-month state engagement period required under the FERC order. In addition, GDO technical assistance will be available to assist states in ongoing efforts to engage in long-term regional transmission planning after the compliance deadline, including providing input to the development of transmission planning scenarios by regional transmission planning entities.
The application deadline for the initial technical assistance cycle is Dec. 31, 2024. Read all the details in GDO’s announcement.
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