A coalition of New England states announced Wednesday it has submitted a pair of applications seeking federal funding for projects to support offshore wind, battery storage and expanded interregional transfer capacity.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Innovation Program to support the Power Up New England project. And in conjunction with New York, those states submitted another application for the Clean Resilience Link project.
Power Up New England will utilize new and upgraded transmission points of interconnection in Massachusetts and Connecticut to access 4.8 GW of offshore wind and battery energy storage systems in Connecticut and Maine. The Clean Resilience Link features an interregional transmission upgrade “that would enable operation of a New York-New England transmission line at 345 kilovolts, increasing transfer capacity between the two regions by up to 1,000 MW,” the states said.
The applications include “robust” community benefit plans that describe what actions project developers will take related to community engagement; workforce development; diversity, equity, inclusion; and accessibility, the states said.
“The Northeast region offers DOE two compelling applications, highlighting our strong regional ties,” Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Elizabeth Mahony said in a statement.
DOE is expected to announce the awards in the fall.
The Grid Innovation Program is managed through DOE’s $10.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program. Awards are capped at $250 million unless projects have a significant transmission investment, in which case they can receive up to $1 billion. Both New England projects proposed this week contain significant transmission investments, the states said.
Up to $1.82 billion in funding is available through this round of Grid Innovation Program funding; applications were due Wednesday. In October, DOE announced nearly $3.5 billion in awards under its Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program to support 58 projects in 44 states.
The two New England Grid Innovation Program applications submitted this week “are the result of a whole-of-government effort to compete for federal funding, and close partnerships with our counterparts in neighboring states," Massachusetts Director of Federal Funds and Infrastructure Quentin Palfrey said in a statement. "The funding would be transformational for the development of renewable energy and grid resiliency across the entire Northeast region.”
