Grid Resilience Formula Grant Program

The U.S. Department of Energy will provide grants to States (including U.S. Territories) and Indian Tribes under the Grid Resilience Formula Grant Program to improve the resilience of electric grids. States and Indian Tribes may further allocate funds to "eligible entities."

Eligible Entities

  • an electric grid operator
  • an electricity storage operator
  • an electricity generator
  • a transmission owner or operator
  • a distribution provider
  • a fuel supplier
  • any other relevant entity, as determined by the Secretary

The objective of this Program is to improve the resilience of the electric grid against disruptive events. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) section 40101(a)(1) defines a disruptive event as "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 under this Program may be used to implement a wide range of resilience measures intended to mitigate the impact of disruptive events.

Entities ineligible for the Grid Resilience Formula Grant may be eligible for alternative grid-related programs funded by U.S. DOE. The U.S. DOE Grid and Transmission Program Conductor provides additional information to help identify relevant funding or financing programs. 

 

Eligible Resilience Measures

  • weatherization technologies and equipment
  • fire-resistant technologies and fire prevention systems
  • monitoring and control technologies
  • the undergrounding of electrical equipment
  •  utility pole management
  • the relocation of power lines or the reconductoring of power lines with low-sag, advanced conductors
  • vegetation and fuel-load management
  • the use or construction of distributed energy resources for enhancing system adaptive capacity during disruptive events, including microgrids and battery-storage subcomponents
  • adaptive protection technologies
  • advanced modeling technologies
  • hardening of power lines, facilities, substations, of other systems
  • the replacement of old overhead conductors and underground cables

Funding may also be used for the training, recruitment, retention, and reskilling of skilled and properly credentialed workers in order to perform the work required for the particular resilience measures to be funded under the Program. Additionally, of the amounts made available under the Program each fiscal year, the State or Indian Tribe may use up to 5% for providing technical assistance and administrative expenses associated with the Program.

 

Application for Funding

IIJA Section 40101(d)(2)(B) provides that plans prepared by States or Indian Tribes for purposes of an application for funding under this Program shall (i) describe the criteria and methods that will be used by the State or Indian Tribe to award grants to eligible entities; (ii) be adopted after notice and a public hearing; and (iii) describe the proposed funding distributions and recipients of the grants to be provided by the State or Indian Tribe.

The State of Tennessee’s plan, or Program Narrative, for the Grid Resilience Formula Grant Program was submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy on April 24, 2023, as part of an application for Year 1 and Year 2 formula funding under this program, with formula allocations as follows:

  • Tennessee’s Year 1 Allocation = $7,614,436
  • Tennessee’s Year 2 Allocation = $7,591,534

View the State of Tennessee Program Narrative.

TDEC OEP held a public hearing on September 15, 2022, regarding the utilization of the State of Tennessee's Year 1 allocation of $7,614,436 under the U.S. Department of Energy's Grid Resilience Formula Grant Program. In addition to providing an overview of this Program and various related compliance requirements, TDEC OEP reviewed the criteria and methods the State of Tennessee anticipates using to grant awards to eligible entities and potential approaches for distributing funding (e.g., formula grants and competitive grants). TDEC OEP accepted written and verbal public comment on the draft plan through COB on October 17, 2022, at 5 pm CDT. 

View the Presentation from the public hearing.

Sign up for the TDEC OEP email list for updates on the Grid Resilience Formula Grant Program. 

 

Informational Webinar

Public Hearing Recording

Due to a technical error, the first eight minutes covering the first ten slides were not recorded. A PDF of the presentation can be accessed here or in the Resources tab below. 

The following definitions are set forth in IIJA Section 40101.

“Disruptive event” shall mean 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.

“Eligible entity” shall mean the following:

  • an electric grid operator
  • an electricity storage operator
  • an electricity generator
  • a transmission owner or operator
  • a distribution provider
  • a fuel supplier
  • any other relevant entity, as determined by the Secretary

“Natural disaster” shall mean any hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, drought, fire, or other catastrophe in any part of the United States which causes, or which may cause, substantial damage or injury to civilian property or persons.

“Power line” shall mean a transmission line or a distribution line, as applicable.

“Program” shall mean the Grid Resilience Formula Grant Program established under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Section 40101 on Preventing Outages and Enhancing the Resilience of the Electric Grid.

When did the Stakeholder Working Group for the Grid Resilience Formula Grant Program begin to convene?

The stakeholder working group held a Kick-off Meeting on May 30, 2024. Slides presented at the Kick-off Meeting can be found here.

What is the role of the Stakeholder Working Group?

The goal of the SWG is to serve as the primary advisory entity to TDEC throughout both the Program design phase as well as the implementation of the Program (each year of funding has a five-year period of performance). The goals and objectives of the SWG are as follows:

  • Provide insight and exchange information on key decisions impacting the Program design and implementation, including the decision to award funding via competitive solicitation(s) and/or formula grant(s), the decision to invest funding in workforce development related initiatives, and the potential prioritization of Eligible Resilience Measures to be funded under the Program. 
  • Advise TDEC OEP staff by providing subject matter expertise and insight on historical outage data, reporting gaps, and needs or resources that could be leveraged to fill such reporting gaps.
  • Identify outage-related data sources for TDEC OEP to utilize and/or determine data points that TDEC OEP should gather from eligible applicants or related stakeholders to support data-driven analysis and evaluation of proposed projects.
  • Support TDEC OEP in establishing required metrics, data exchange, and data gathering requirements for eligible entities, both at the time of application as well as during and after project implementation.
  • Inform the development of a framework and a methodology for determining and/or evaluating community benefit of grid resilience projects in a measurable way, where possible.
  • Evaluate the need to expand the State’s list of eligible entities to include critical facilities and infrastructure that ensure essential community services or lifelines remain functioning when a disruptive event occurs.
  • Advise TDEC OEP staff on effective means to track progress, outputs, and outcomes associated with Program-funded projects.

Who will contribute to the Stakeholder Working Group?

The stakeholder working group will be comprised of representatives from Local Power Companies (large, medium, small, municipally owned, cooperatively owned, rural, and urban), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association (TECA), Tennessee Municipal Electric Power Association (TMEPA), Tennessee Valley Public Power Association (TVPPA), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the Tennessee Board of Regents / Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology, other higher education institutions, urban and rural local governments, and other State Agencies, including the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. To avoid any appearance of unfair advantage, vendors that could later be selected to provide either goods or services for the implementation of projects to be funded under the program will not be eligible to participate in the stakeholder working group, as the stakeholder working group will be tasked with informing program design, project selection criteria, and other implementation-related considerations.

I'm not part of the Stakeholder Working Group. How do I stay informed?

Please check this webpage regularly. We will periodically post important updates and program deadlines. 

When will eligible entities be able to apply for funding?

TDEC OEP anticipates that the first solicitation for grant funding will be released in the Spring or Summer of 2025. The timeline is subject to change based on funding availability and other administrative procedures / constraints.

I have additional questions. Who do I need to contact?

If you have questions about applying for funding, or to determine potential eligibility, please contact Heidi McIntyre-Wilkinson at Heidi.E.McIntyre-Wilkinson@tn.gov.

This Page Last Updated: August 30, 2024 at 9:15 AM