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					</table><p>The <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden-Harris Administration</a> opened applications for a new multi-billion-dollar program to fund electric vehicle (EV) charging and alternative-fuelling infrastructure in communities along designated highways, interstates, and major roadways across America.</p>
<p>The first round of funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Charging and Fuelling Infrastructure program is expected to help ensure America’s zero-emission vehicle future.</p>
<p>This round makes up to $700 million available to strategically deploy EV charging and other alternative vehicle-fueling infrastructure projects in publicly accessible locations. The <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Department of Transportation</a> will provide $2.5 billion over five years.</p>
<p>The move is aimed at building a national network of 500,000 public EV charging stations and reducing national greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% by 2030.</p>
<p>The CFI Discretionary Grant Program builds on the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program.</p>
<p>EV chargers must adhere to basic standards, such as a requirement that supports a consistent charging experience for users and ensures that the national charging network is convenient, reliable, and “Made in America.”</p>
<p>“Extending EV charging infrastructure into traditionally underserved areas will ensure that equitable and widespread EV adoption takes hold,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.</p>
<p>Ensuring that charging stations are more visible and accessible in the communities will also address the concerns many American drivers have when they are considering making the switch to electric, Granholm added.</p>
<p>A priority of the program is bringing EV charging into urban and rural communities, particularly in underserved and disadvantaged communities.</p>
<p>The program is further divided into two components. The Community Program will provide $1.25 billion to strategically deploy publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure and hydrogen, propane, or natural gas fueling infrastructure in communities.</p>
<p>Infrastructure may be located on any public road or in other publicly accessible locations, such as parking facilities at public buildings, public schools, and public parks, or in publicly accessible parking facilities owned or managed by a private entity.</p>
<p>The Corridor Program will provide $1.25 billion to strategically deploy publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure and hydrogen, propane, and natural gas fueling infrastructure along designated alternative fuel corridors.</p>
<p>Eligible applicants and projects for both categories are outlined in a <a href="https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=346798" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Notice of Funding Opportunity</a>. Applications are due by May 30, 2023.</p>
<p>Projects that address environmental justice, particularly for communities such as rural and low- and moderate-income neighbourhoods that may disproportionately experience the consequences of climate change and other pollutants, will be funded primarily.</p>
<p>The U.S. administration’s Department of Energy <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-announces-2-5-billion-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> $2.5 billion in funding for two carbon management programs to significantly mitigate the carbon emissions from power generation and hard-to-abate industrial operations.</p>
<p>Total investment in electric vehicle chargers is set to <a href="https://mercomindia.com/electric-vehicle-chargers-hit-200-billion-2026-bnef/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cross</a> $100 billion in 2023, and the next $100 billion of spending is expected to be achieved within the next three years, a <a href="https://about.bnef.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BloombergNEF</a> study has found.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a><br />
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<a href="gautamee@mercomindia.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gautamee@mercomindia.com</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
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US Opens Applications for $2.5 Billion Program to Build EV Infrastructure


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					</table><p>The U.S. Department of Energy (<a href="https://www.energy.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DOE</a>) has launched the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program, which provides $550 million in renewable energy funding for 2,700 diverse communities in the country.</p>
<p>Under the program, the department funds 50 U.S. states, five territories, the District of Columbia, 774 Tribes, and 1,878 local governments.</p>
<p>The communities will use the fund to advance the deployment of more clean energy technologies to reduce emissions. It is expected to help achieve President Joe Biden’s goal of a net-zero economy by 2050.</p>
<p>The funding is sanctioned under Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and will help explore more capacity-building opportunities and bolster planning. The DOE will support infrastructural efforts to stabilize energy efficiency in the transport sector while helping mitigate carbon emissions and balance energy use.</p>
<p>Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm observed, “State, local, and tribal communities nationwide will be able to leverage this funding to drive greater energy efficiency and conservation practices to lower utility bills and create healthier environments for American families.”</p>
<p>The department said that areas that do not have access to electric vehicles or renewable energy could benefit by deploying community solar and building the required electric vehicle infrastructure.</p>
<p>The program aligns with the President’s Justice40 Initiative to extend 40% of the total benefits of clean energy investments to underserved and overburdened communities.</p>
<p>The EECBG program is being funded through the Bipartisan Law for the second time. The first funding was made through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.</p>
<p>The $550 million funding and previous investments will help communities avail of additional clean energy funding from the DOE, other federal agencies, and the private sector.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://mercomindia.com/more-lower-adopted-solar-in-us-between-2010-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> published by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory recently, more American households have adopted solar in the past 11 years, bringing down the median household income for solar adopters by 14% to $110,000/year in 2021 compared to 2010.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the Biden administration <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-announces-a-13-expand-and-modernize-electric-grid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> funding of $13 billion to expand and upgrade the national electric grid. The department said the funding would be split into three aspects of grid upgrade under the Grid Resilience Innovative Partnership program.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gourav Mishra</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-06-at-6.37.25-PM-1-1.jpeg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gourav,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gourav.</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-06-at-6.37.25-PM-1-1.jpeg" width="89" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gourav</a> is a staff reporter with Mercom India with over six years of experience in various roles with NewsX, The New Indian Express, IBTimes India, and U.S., Republic, and Analytics India Magazine. Gourav has a Master&#8217;s in journalism from Jain University, Bengaluru. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gourav Mishra</a></div>
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US to Help Underserved Communities with $550 Million Clean Energy Fund


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					</table><p>The United States Department of Energy (<a href="https://www.energy.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DOE</a>) has said it intends to use $30 million from the President&#8217;s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to reinforce wind energy&#8217;s key role as a clean energy resource.</p>
<p>Of the total $30 million funding, the DOE has invited applications for a $28 million funding opportunity for projects that support certain initiatives.</p>
<p>It includes funding of $9.7 million to advance technologies needed to transmit large amounts of power from offshore wind over long distances.</p>
<p>This funding will bolster standards for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission for offshore wind while developing and validating innovative controls to ensure reliability and compatibility with alternating and direct current. The gaps in education and workforce training to support HVDC transmission deployment for U.S. offshore wind will also be identified and addressed.</p>
<p>Funding of $6.9 million has been announced to help characterize offshore wind development&#8217;s economic and other impacts on local communities who are the beneficiaries and support the participation of research-enabling communities.</p>
<p>The permit processes to stabilize the accessibility of distributed wind will be improved to make it cost-effective and equitably deployed for the communities. Funding of $3.3 million will support innovative zoning and permitting methods for distributed wind projects that provide power for nearby homes, farms, schools, and businesses.</p>
<p>Also announced is an $8 million funding that will support research to study the behavior of bats which collide into wind turbines. A part of this funding will also be utilized for technology development and field testing to advance bat-deterrent technologies.</p>
<p>DOE also released a Request for Information (RFI) on research needs for anchoring and mooring systems that attach floating offshore wind structures to the sea floor in deep water. The DOE has decided to allocate the remaining $2.5 million of the total funding for R&amp;D funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.</p>
<p>The details gathered from the RFI will help the department plan future work to advance floating offshore wind toward cost-effective commercialization and domestic manufacturing, including the technologies that help maintain the stability of floating turbines in the sea.</p>
<p>Recently, the U.S. said it would <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-to-lease-out-california-coast-offshore-wind-projects/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hold</a> a lease sale for areas off the West Coast for wind projects critical to achieving offshore wind goals of 30 GW by 2030 and a floating offshore wind target of 15 GW by 2035.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-needs-to-deploy-90-gw-solar-150-gw-wind-capacity-annually-to-decarbonize-electric-grid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> released by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the DOE, the country needs to deploy 70-150 GW of wind along with 40-90 GW of solar annually until 2030 to decarbonize America&#8217;s power sector by 2035.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gourav Mishra</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-06-at-6.37.25-PM-1-1.jpeg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gourav,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gourav.</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-06-at-6.37.25-PM-1-1.jpeg" width="89" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gourav</a> is a staff reporter with Mercom India with over six years of experience in various roles with NewsX, The New Indian Express, IBTimes India, and U.S., Republic, and Analytics India Magazine. Gourav has a Master&#8217;s in journalism from Jain University, Bengaluru. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gourav Mishra</a></div>
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US Announces $30 Million Funding for Wind Power Research


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					</table><p>The <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Department of Transportation</a> has approved Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plans for all 50 States covering approximately 75,000 miles of highway across the country.</p>
<p>With this approval, all States now have access to $1.5 billion under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program.</p>
<p>The funding would go towards installing charging infrastructure, operation and maintenance costs of the charging stations, installation of on-site electrical service equipment, EV charging station signage, data sharing activities, and related mapping analysis and activities.</p>
<p>The NEVI formula funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which makes $5 billion available over five years, will help build a convenient, reliable, and affordable EV charging network across the country.</p>
<p>The transportation sector is the country’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. President Biden has set an ambitious goal for half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 to be zero-emissions vehicles.</p>
<p>Transitioning America’s cars to EVs and building a robust network of public chargers are pathways to the goal of reducing emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030. A robust network of public chargers is an important tool to support this transition.</p>
<p>“President Biden is leading the shift to electrify transportation—ensuring drivers can commute and charge confidently and affordably, and lessening our oversized reliance on fossil fuels while combatting climate change,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.</p>
<p>Additional funding is also available under the $2.5 billion Discretionary Grant Program for Charging and Fueling Infrastructure, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which will help bring down the sticker price of EVs, provide tax credits to purchase new and used EVs and make $3 billion accessible to support access to EV charging for economically disadvantaged communities.</p>
<p>The Department of Energy (<a href="https://www.energy.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DOE</a>) also provides a cumulative $7 billion in funding to support an end-to-end domestic supply chain for domestic EV battery manufacturing.</p>
<p>In July, DOE <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-96-million-funding-expand-ev-charging/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> funding of $96 million to expand EV charging accessibility and maximize EV efficiency and affordability.</p>
<p>The United States would have up to 35 million EVs on the roads by 2030. This would <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-35-million-electric-vehicles-2030-sepa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">generate</a> around 100 TWh of new power demand annually, according to a report by Smart Electric Power Alliance.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/vijayalakshmi-sridhar/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Vijayalakshmi Sridhar</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/New-Project-6.jpg" width="77" height="102" /> <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/vijayalakshmi-sridhar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vijayalakshmi</a> is a staff reporter at MercomIndia.com. She has two decades of experience as an independent journalist and features writer, and her work is featured across various publications and genres such as business, food, and clean energy. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/vijayalakshmi-sridhar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Vijayalakshmi</a>.</p>
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EV Charging Infrastructure to be Set Up Along 75,000 Miles of Highways in the U.S.


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					</table><p>The United States needs to deploy 40–90 GW of solar and 70–150 GW of wind energy every year until 2030 to decarbonize the country’s power sector by 2035, a report by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (<a href="https://www.nrel.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NREL</a>) and the U.S. Department of Energy (<a href="https://www.energy.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DOE</a>) has said.</p>
<p>The report estimates the move to cost $330-$740 billion in additional power systems costs between 2023 and 2035.</p>
<p>Electricity <a href="https://mercomindia.com/renewable-energy-generation-surpassed-nuclear/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">generated</a> from renewable sources totaled 795 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in the U.S. in 2021, surpassing the 778 million MWh of electric power generated from nuclear reactors. According to Energy Information Administration (<a href="https://www.eia.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EIA</a>), wind and solar energy primarily contributed to the boost in power generation from renewables.</p>
<p>The report recommends concentrating on four scenarios — All options, Infrastructure renaissance, Constrained, and No carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.</p>
<p>Wind and solar provide 60%–80% of the generation in the least-cost electricity mix in all the main scenarios.</p>
<p>The report suggests that research and development, manufacturing, and infrastructure investment decisions will help determine the exact technology mix costs over the next decade. It also says that the mix of technologies to achieve the net-zero carbon target in power generation is the main uncertainty in all four scenarios.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-41061" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Wind-and-Solar-by-2035.png" alt="Wind and Solar by 2035" width="756" height="516" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Wind-and-Solar-by-2035.png 756w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Wind-and-Solar-by-2035-300x205.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Wind-and-Solar-by-2035-650x444.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Wind-and-Solar-by-2035-624x426.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Wind-and-Solar-by-2035-600x410.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 756px) 100vw, 756px" /></p>
<p>The report projects that the overall generation capacity would grow to roughly three times the 2020 level by 2035, including a combined 2 TW of wind and solar capacity. This would require growth rates in the range of 43-90 GW every year for solar and 70-145 GW annually for wind energy by the end of 2030, which would more than quadruple the current annual deployment levels for each technology in many scenarios.</p>
<p>The study highlights that the grid emissions could decline to 68-78% below 2005 levels by 2030, while the longer implications of the new laws are uncertain.</p>
<p>Additionally, NREL represented seasonal storage in one of its models as clean hydrogen-fuelled combustion turbines, which can also include a variety of technologies under various stages of development, assuming they achieve similar costs and performance.</p>
<p>The report found significant uncertainty about seasonal storage fuel pathways, including synthetic natural gas, ammonia, and alternative conversion technologies such as fuel cells.</p>
<p><strong>Bipartisan law and Inflation Reduction Act</strong></p>
<p>The report comes just after the U.S. announced the <a href="https://mercomindia.com/inflation-reduction-act-a-gamechanger-solar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Inflation Reduction Act</a> (IRA), which along with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is estimated to reduce the economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions in the country to 40% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade.</p>
<p>Apart from higher technology costs, the report also highlights a few critical hurdles in decarbonizing the power sector. One of them is the investment required in doubling or tripling transmission capacity for connecting the new green energy capacity to the grid. However, the report says that the Inflation Regulation Act could mitigate the cost of installing new infrastructure.</p>
<p>The report suggests analyzing the unprecedented deployment rates that require a corresponding growth in raw materials, manufacturing units, and a skilled workforce. NREL recommends continued research, development, demonstration, and deployment support to bring emerging technologies to the market.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gourav Mishra</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-06-at-6.37.25-PM-1-1.jpeg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gourav,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gourav.</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-06-at-6.37.25-PM-1-1.jpeg" width="89" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gourav</a> is a staff reporter with Mercom India with over six years of experience in various roles with NewsX, The New Indian Express, IBTimes India, and U.S., Republic, and Analytics India Magazine. Gourav has a Master&#8217;s in journalism from Jain University, Bengaluru. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gourav Mishra</a></div>
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US Needs to Deploy 90 GW Solar, 150 GW Wind Capacity Annually to Decarbonize Electric Grid

<p>In a bid to expand and strengthen power transmission lines across the country, the United States Department of Energy (<a href="https://www.energy.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DOE</a>) recently issued a Request for Information (RFI) to collect public input on the structure of the $2.5 billion Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP).</p>
<p>The program is focused on achieving President Biden&#8217;s goal of establishing a national grid that runs on 100% clean electricity by 2035.</p>
<p>An innovative revolving fund program, TFP, was created under President Joe Biden&#8217;s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The program is one of the first down payments on over $20 billion of investments under the DOE&#8217;s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/27/fact-sheet-biden-administration-advances-expansion-modernization-of-the-electric-grid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Building a Better Grid Initiative</a> announced last April.</p>
<p>Under the program, large-scale new power lines will receive financial support from the federal government. The existing transmission lines and microgrid connections in select states and territories of the U.S. will be upgraded. The financial support will also help make the grid stronger to resist fluctuating climate changes.</p>
<p>The TFP program would allow the DOE to avail of a loan of up to $2.5 billion to develop and upgrade new high-capacity transmission lines. The DOE will participate in public-private partnerships, undertake capacity contracts with eligible projects and serve as an &#8220;anchor customer.&#8221;</p>
<p>The first solicitation will be limited to applicants seeking capacity contracts for eligible projects that will commence operation no later than December 31, 2027. Through the capacity contracts, DOE would commit to buying up to 50% of the maximum capacity of the power line for up to four decades. The objective of capacity contracts is that DOE would continuously purchase the capacity until the customer demand is sufficient to cover the costs. The DOE will later remarket the capacity, resulting in the restoration of funds.</p>
<p><strong>$53 million for small clean businesses</strong></p>
<p>The DOE also announced funding awards totaling $53 million for diverse small businesses, supporting 259 clean projects across 38 states covering many major areas, including carbon capture and energy storage in the U.S. The funds will encourage small clean energy businesses to deploy new solutions, a key component of the goal of a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.</p>
<p>The DOE administered the recent funding through its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The two programs would provide financial aid to technological innovation and facilitate technology transfer between research institutions and small businesses. The DOE said that the awardees of funds under SBIR and STTR programs have recently reported a sales revenue of $1.7 billion.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the DOE <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-funding-boost-domestic-battery-manufacturing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> funding of $3.16 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to expand domestic battery production, strengthen domestic supply chains, and create new jobs in America.</p>
<p>Last year, the DOE <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-provide-million-clean-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pledged</a> up to $100 million in financing for research and development of transformative clean energy technology to support the Biden Administration&#8217;s climate innovative agenda.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gourav Mishra</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-06-at-6.37.25-PM-1-1.jpeg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gourav,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gourav.</a></p>
</div>
<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-06-at-6.37.25-PM-1-1.jpeg" width="89" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gourav</a> is a staff reporter with Mercom India with over six years of experience in various roles with NewsX, The New Indian Express, IBTimes India, and U.S., Republic, and Analytics India Magazine. Gourav has a Master&#8217;s in journalism from Jain University, Bengaluru. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gourav Mishra</a></div>
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US Seeks Public Feedback on $2.5 Billion Transmission Lines Program

<p>The U.S. Department of Energy (<a href="https://www.energy.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DOE</a>) issued two notices of intent to invest $2.91 billion to enhance the production of advanced batteries, critical to the fast-growing clean energy industries, including electric vehicles and energy storage.</p>
<p>The announcement follows President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill that allocated around $7 billion to strengthen the U.S. battery supply chain, including producing and recycling critical minerals without new extraction or mining and sourcing materials for domestic manufacturing.</p>
<p>The department intends to use the funding for battery material refining and production facilities, battery cell and pack manufacturing plants, and recycling facilities that create well-paying clean energy jobs.  The funding is to be made available in the coming months and ensure that the country can produce batteries and their components to enhance economic competitiveness and energy independence.</p>
<p>According to DOE’s large-capacity battery supply chain review, the U.S. needs to establish domestic production and processing capabilities to support a wholly domestic end-to-end battery supply chain.</p>
<p>With the global lithium-ion battery market expected to grow over the next decade, the DOE intends to prepare the U.S. battery sector to meet the rising demand.  Responsible and sustainable domestic sourcing of the raw materials used to make lithium-ion batteries – like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite – is said to help reduce the gap in supply chain disruptions and enhance battery production in the country.</p>
<p>The funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will allow the department to support the development of new, retrofitted, and expanded domestic facilities for battery recycling and the production of battery materials, cell components, and advanced batteries.</p>
<p>The department will also support research, development, and demonstration of second-life applications for batteries used to power electric vehicles with this funding. It will also help advance new technologies for recycling, reclaiming, and adding materials back into the battery supply chain.</p>
<p>The department said fundings are aligned with the National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries released last year by the Federal Consortium for advanced batteries. DOE would lead the program alongside the Departments of Defense, Commerce, and State. The program detailed a roadmap for ensuring the domestic battery supply chain and enhancing the development of a robust and secure domestic industrial base by 2030.</p>
<p>In October 2021, DOE <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-department-energy-solar-installations-700/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a new National Community Solar Partnership target to enable community solar systems to power the equivalent of five million households by 2025 and create $1 billion in energy bill savings.</p>
<p>Mercom had earlier <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-provide-million-clean-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the department pledged up to $100 million in financing for research and development of transformative clean energy technology to support the Biden Administration’s climate innovative agenda.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Harsh Shukla</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Harsh-Shukla-293x300-1-new.jpg" width="99" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Harsh Shukla</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/">More articles from Harsh Shukla.</a></p>
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