NEWS: The DOE’s new $2 billion bet on getting more juice from existing assets.

The funding: The Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity is awarding 31 projects across 26 states funding for grid upgrades. The projects will receive $1.9 billion, on top of $3.4 billion in “recipient cost-share funding.” 

What’s covered: Over 1.5K miles of transmission lines will see new capacity unlocked through reconductoring or rebuilding, while another 21K miles will get grid enhancing technologies. The result? More than 23 GW of added capacity. Not only will the move address transmission buildout bottlenecks, but the DOE highlights this approach will “bypass the multi-decade timelines” that building new transmission normally requires. 

Industry groups are cheering: The awards will “ensure real projects will break ground soon,” and help push the industry to use “modern technologies to deliver the most power at the lowest cost,” Zach Zimmerman, executive director of the AMP Coalition, said in a statement.