The Biden administration announced the largest direct federal investment in transmission and distribution infrastructure to help accelerate the clean energy transition. Thirteen billion dollars in grants from the Department of Energy as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help communities across the country transition from fossil fuels.
The announcement to dedicate these grants to improve transmission and distribution systems will “improve energy resiliency through microgrids, local renewable energy, and energy storage,” a press release reported.
“The Biden Administration’s investment in a modern grid can unlock clean energy and reduce energy costs while creating jobs in the clean energy economy,” Holly Bender, Sierra Club senior director of Energy Campaigns, said. “We call on the Department of Energy to ensure robust consultation with local communities as projects are being considered, full adherence to all bedrock environmental laws, and to ensure funding supports the Administration’s Justice 40 commitments.”
As communities across the country are faced with “elevated energy reliability risks during extreme weather events this winter,” the Biden administration’s announcement is being hailed as a step in the right direction to “unlock clean energy and reduce energy costs.”
“By supporting projects to make communities more resilient during increasingly common climate-driven extreme weather events, these grants can bring energy costs down for families while creating a more reliable grid based on renewable energy sources,” Casey Roberts, senior attorney with the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program, said.
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