The U.S. Department of Energy's Grid Resilience and Tribal Formula Grant under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will support projects that help ensure the reliability of the state's power sector infrastructure and access to affordable and clean electricity.
The grant money will be administered over a two-year period by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority(NYSERDA) to harden the power grid against storms, improve forecasting tools, reduce carbon emissions, and make electricity cheaper, the governor's statement said.
More than half of the U.S. and parts of Canada, home to around 180 million people, could fall short of electricity during extreme cold again this winter due to lacking natural gas infrastructure, the North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC) said earlier this month.
U.S. energy regulators on Nov. 7 urged lawmakers to fill a regulatory blind spot to maintain reliable supply of natural gas during extreme cold weather that was highlighted by an inquiry into power outages during Winter Storm Elliott in December 2022.
During Elliott, both electric and gas systems in much of the eastern portion of the U.S. encountered substantial stress, leading to unscheduled generation losses of roughly 90,500 megawatts, according to the inquiry.
The state's grid operator last week postponed the retirement of four floating natural gas-fired power plants by two years to keep the power supply reliable in New York City.
Earlier, New York Transco, a major developer of power lines, obtained permits from the state's utilities regulator for three transmission projects that would reduce grid congestion and meet clean energy requirements.
