BOSTON – The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced on Tuesday, Aug. 6, that it awarded New England states $389 million for investments in regional electric infrastructure upgrades.
The funding will support upgrades to points of interconnection in Southeast Massachusetts and Southeast Connecticut and creating a battery energy storage system in Northern Maine. These projects will allow New England to connect offshore wind power to the grid, according to Governor Maura Healey’s office.
The point of interconnection upgrades in Massachusetts and Connecticut includes new substations to ready the onshore transmission system for up to 4,800 megawatts of additional offshore wind. The battery project in Maine will deploy a multi-day battery energy storage system capable of continuously dispatching carbon-free electricity for up to 100 hours and provide reliability to the grid.
The project, called Power Up New England, is a joint project of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the Maine Governor’s Energy Office, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, the New Hampshire Department of Energy, the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resource, and the Vermont Department of Public Service.
The project developers are Form Energy, Eversource Energy, and National Grid.
“Massachusetts is moving full speed ahead on clean energy and climatetech,” said Governor Maura Healey. “These game-changing federal funds will mean more jobs, lower energy costs for families and businesses, and cleaner air for all. We’re grateful to DOE for the recognition and support.”
The DOE’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program funds projects to improve grid reliability and resilience. The program caps funding at $250 million per project, unless the project includes significant transmission investment.
The DOE program received funding in the 2021 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, often called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.
