DoE opens $300m funding pot to help speed power line approvals for clean energy

The US Department of Energy (DoE) is making available up to $300m in grants for state and local authorities to “accelerate and strengthen” electric transmission siting and permitting processes to help achieve federal government climate and clean energy goals.

“To meet our ambitious clean energy goals, we need to expand the nation’s transmission capacity by 60% over the next seven years,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Those targets set by President Joe Biden include reducing US greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels in 2030, 100% clean electricity by 2035, and achieving 30GW of commercial offshore wind capacity by the end of this decade.

He also wants electric vehicles to comprise 50% of new passenger and light truck sales in 2030, or roughly 8 million of about 16 million sold annually in the US. In 2022, fully electric cars comprised 5.7% of the market.

Transmission build-out is a major impediment to carbon reduction given most of the nation’s best solar and wind resources cannot be tapped as there are no pathways to market.

Siting and permitting of power lines involves myriad stakeholders at the federal, state, and local levels, and the more states they proposed to cross, the more costly and lengthy the processes become to obtain the necessary approvals.

The administration’s efforts to ramp greenlighting of new transmission on an unprecedented scale faces push back from elected officials, landowners, and regulators in some states, who want to retain local control over planning and permitting processes and have the final say with approvals.

Utilities, who historically built most long-haul power lines and own the bulk of the country’s electric grid, are also cautious about committing massive amounts of capital for expansion without clear parameters for recovering it from rate bases in individual states.

The 2022 US climate law, which is funding DoE’s Transmission Siting and Economic Development (TSED) grant programme, included generous federal tax credits to turbocharge clean energy development, but none for transmission.

TSED is a new initiative designed to overcome state and local challenges to expanding transmission capacity, while also supporting communities along major new and upgraded lines, according to DoE’s Grid Deployment Office, which administers it.

The initiative aims to fund studies, modeling, environmental planning, and analysis to assess alternatives, better inform decision making, and reduce the time it takes to process applications.

The programme can also support robust engagement with members of the public, including tribal, rural, and disadvantaged communities, and facilitate participation in regulatory proceedings at the federal level.

DOE requires applicants to express an interest in applying for funds by submitting concept papers no later than 31 October. Full applications will be due 5 April 2024.