Preventing Outages and Enhancing the Resilience of the Electric Grid
The objective of this program is to improve the resilience of the electric grid against disruptive events. Per BIL section 40101(a)(1), 17 a disruptive event is “an event in which operations of the electric grid are disrupted, preventively shut off, or cannot operate safely due to extreme weather, wildfire, or a natural disaster.”
To achieve this objective, funding provided by DOE under this program may be used to implement a wide range of resilience measures intended to mitigate the impact of disruptive events. The Commonwealth of Kentucky has been awarded 27 million in federal funds to implement grid resiliency projects over the span of 5 years.
Year 1 and 2:
Regionally in Kentucky, state parks have served as critical community centers and emergency response facilities during disaster response and recovery. More recently, state parks were used during the pandemic response for first responder housing/non-congregate sheltering and as a refuge for survivors of devastating tornado and flooding events. They are the basis for regional resilience. However, these parks have been challenged at times to be able to provide reliable power and basic services during these events, thereby compromising the social stability of the surrounding communities. Therefore, the Commonwealth will use the resources offered by section 40401(d) of the BIL to improve resilience at state owned distribution facilities that are key to supporting disaster survivors in the aftermath of significant weather events.
Year 3:
Municipal Utilities in Kentucky share characteristics that lend themselves to developing community based energy resilience projects. These utilities are not-for-profit and are community owned. These utilities are built by and belong to the diverse communities and consumer members that they serve. Therefore, the Commonwealth will use the resources offered by section 40401(d) of the BIL to provide essential assistance to small municipal electric utilities that are in high risk areas or have recently been affected by a disaster.
- Status: The application went live on November 15th and the application window closed on December 16th, 2024.