[WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office announced $4.6 million for six projects to provide technical assistance to accelerate analysis of regional climate change threats and impacts on electric grid infrastructure. This investment, made through the Grid Resilience and Climate Change Impacts Analysis (GRACI) partnerships, will use risk assessments and modeling to support recipients of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants with rapid decision-making to prioritize investments for impactful community benefits. The Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants are designed to strengthen and modernize America’s power grid against wildfires, extreme weather, and other natural disasters that are exacerbated by the climate crisis.]
[In the Northeast, Pointerra will collaborate with three electric utilities (Avangrid, Eversource, National Grid) and three university partners (Cornell University, University at Albany - State University of New York, and the University of Connecticut) to develop a cost-benefit methodology to determine the long-term resilience value of grid resilience investments in the Northeast. Pointerra will acquire LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology and imagery data and use its Pointerra3D platform to automatically generate a digital twin of select circuits in each utility’s service territory. Pointerra’s utility and academic partners will then use these digital twins for modeling and simulation of resilience investments, such as asset hardening, line undergrounding, and vegetation management. This best practice approach is intended to be scalable across multiple regions throughout North America.]
[Founded in 2022, the Grid Deployment Office (GDO) works to catalyze the development of new and upgraded electric infrastructure across the country by maintaining and investing in critical generation facilities; developing and upgrading high-capacity electric transmission lines nationwide; and deploying transmission and distribution technologies.
GDO acts as a partner with states, tribes, territories, industry, communities, and other energy sector stakeholders to deploy solutions to lower energy costs and improve grid reliability and resilience. We strive to work in strong partnership with those across the U.S. to support a robust generation, transmission, and distribution system, which is the backbone of the Nation’s economic, energy, and national security infrastructure.
GDO oversees more than $22 billion in funding, including historic investments from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, also commonly known at the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ([BIL]) and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). It works within four divisions to leverage unique authorities to fulfill its mission.]
