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State awarded $17.2 million grant for power grid resilience

By Scott Weiser September 28, 2023 | updated 2 years ago

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The Colorado Energy Office and state Department of Local Affairs were granted $17.2 million in federal funds for improving the resilience and reliability of Colorado’s electric grid against climate-driven extreme weather events and aging infrastructure.

As part of the program, state energy officials are studying the role of microgrids as a way to improve the reliability of the power grid.

“The resilience of Colorado’s energy infrastructure is paramount in our commitment to creating a more agile and green Colorado for generations to come,” said DOLA Executive Director Rick Garcia in a news release.

Grid resiliency has become a greater concern recently in part because of the transformation away from fossil fuel power generation, according to federal energy officials.

In its biennial 2023 Reliability Risk Priorities Report, officials at the National Energy Reliability Corp. identified both energy policy and grid transformation as two new risk factors for grid reliability.

NERC is charged with monitoring the national electric grid and sets industry standards for reliability under the supervision of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

NERC said last Christmas’ winter storm Elliott demonstrated shortfalls in grid reliability in the southeastern part of the country.

In 2021, February’s winter storm Uri revealed vulnerabilities in much of the central U.S., particularly in Texas, where power outages caused by extreme low temperatures resulted in the deaths of nearly 300 people.

“Extreme weather conditions, such as flooding and wildfires, increasingly test the resilience of the state’s electric grid,” said Colorado Energy Office Executive Director Will Toor. “Improving the resilience of Colorado’s energy infrastructure against climate threats is a key priority for the state.”

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A microgrid is a group of interconnected electricity users combined with local power generation within defined electrical boundaries that can function as a single, controllable grid entity. Microgrids can be connected to or disconnected from the larger electric grid automatically and operate in “island mode.” Like a home or hospital with a backup generator, only on a larger scale, it allows the grid members to have power from local generating sources if the main grid or a link to it fails.

“Colorado’s MCR (Microgrids for Community Resilience) program is one of just a few programs in the U.S. focused primarily on developing new microgrids — especially those centered around community-level systems,” according to the release. “The MCR Program, which DOLA’s Colorado Resiliency Office launched earlier this year, focuses on strengthening the resilience of essential infrastructure and/or community-based anchor institutions, such as schools; libraries; hospitals or other health-care facilities; and law enforcement, emergency medical service providers, or other public safety agencies.”

“In tandem with CEO’s grant programs, CEO will work directly with utilities to identify and fund the projects of greatest importance to reduce the frequency of power outages and minimize their impact — especially in remote mountain and prairie communities and in disproportionately impacted communities,” the release added.

About $2.6 million in state funds is being added to the program to support the development of a microgrid roadmap to identify locations best suited to such projects. Three other grant programs will open applications this fall, according to the news release.

CEO and DOLA will be offering an informational webinar about these opportunities from 2-3 p.m. Thursday, October 5th. Register to attend the webinar.

Sign up for future updates on the Colorado Grid Resiliency Program.

To learn more about the MCR Program, please visit DOLA’s website or reach out to Program Manager, Julia Masters, at julia.masters@state.co.us.

For more information about the Grid Hardening, Grid Monitoring and Microgrid Roadmap, visit the Colorado Energy Office’s Grid Resilience website. For questions about these programs, email the Program Manager, John Parks, at john.m.parks@state.co.us.

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