The Department of Energy (DOE), through its Grid Deployment Office, has awarded more than $160 million in funding to Georgia Power.
The company has pursued the funding available under the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help reduce the costs of necessary investments for the benefit of customers. Investments under the GRIP Program are proposed to enhance grid flexibility, improve the resilience of the power system against extreme weather and ensure access to affordable, reliable electricity for American communities.
Georgia Power will deploy new grid-enhancing technologies including dynamic line rating technology and reconductoring of high voltage power lines through funding from the GRIP program. Improved conductor technology is planned to be deployed on existing structures, which is placed in service much faster as compared to traditional line build, and helps maximize the amount of power carried through existing transmission lines and in existing rights of way.
The investments will serve existing and new customers to help connect a growing amount of clean generation required to serve Georgia's growing electricity needs. The investments will not only unlock additional opportunities for renewable generation deployment within critical locations and disadvantaged communities but also increase energy resilience, including reducing outage frequency and duration.
Georgia Power plans to share insights, lessons learned and best practices with the broader industry through its work with the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies and others.
Georgia Power will work with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union crews to provide training on the installation and configuration of new types of transmission conductors to be installed. The use of new technologies is expected to provide community benefits such as decreased environmental impacts, increased clean enterprise contracting for businesses majority owned or controlled by underrepresented persons or groups, increased high-quality job creation and job training.
