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Signature Sponsor
January 18, 2024 - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $34 million for 12 projects across 11 states to strengthen and modernize America’s aging power grid through the development of cost-effective, high-speed, and safe undergrounding technologies. Through the Grid Overhaul with Proactive, High-speed Undergrounding for Reliability, Resilience, and Security (GOPHURRS) program, the selected projects will advance innovative solutions to help upgrade and expand the nation’s grid infrastructure—lowering costs, reducing inefficiencies, mitigating disruptions from extreme weather events, and accelerating the adoption of renewable clean energy resources. Today’s announcement reinforces President Biden's Investing in America agenda to build strong and secure energy infrastructure across the country, which will create good-paying jobs and boost America’s energy and national security while supporting the President’s goal of a 100% clean electrical grid by 2035. “Modernizing our nation’s power grid is essential to building a clean energy future that lowers energy costs for working Americans and strengthens our national security,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “With today’s announcement, DOE is supporting teams across the country as they develop innovative approaches to burying power infrastructure underground—increasing our resilience and bringing our aging grid into the 21st Century.” The electric power distribution system in the U.S. has over 5.5 million line-miles with over 180 million power poles all of which are susceptible to damage by weather and its effects, and account for a majority of power outages in the country each year. Climate-change fueled extreme weather events are increasing the frequency and intensity of power outages across the U.S., harming communities and disrupting livelihoods. Undergrounding power lines is a proven way of improving the system reliability for both transmission and distribution grids as weather events are less likely to interfere with systems that are protected below ground. Managed by DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), the teams announced today—including small and large businesses, national labs, and universities—will play a critical role in developing technologies to reduce costs, increase speed, and improve the safety of undergrounding operations. Selected projects include:
More information and complete project descriptions for the teams announced today can be found on the ARPA-E website. ARPA-E advances high-potential, high-impact clean energy technologies across a wide range of technical areas that are strategic to America's energy security. Learn more about these efforts and ARPA-E's commitment to ensuring the United States continues to lead the world in developing and deploying advanced clean energy technologies. Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time. |
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