Power outages from severe weather have doubled over the past two decades across the U.S., as global warming increases the frequency and severity of natural disasters
Funding comes from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $23,427,961 in grant funding for Washington state to improve the resilience of its power grid against wildfires, extreme weather, and other natural disasters exacerbated by the climate crisis. The funding was awarded to the Washington State Department of Commerce by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office and was authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Senator Murray helped pass. According to an Associated Press analysis of government data, power outages from severe weather have doubled over the past two decades across the U.S., as global warming stirs more destructive storms that cripple broad segments of our nation’s aging electrical grid.
“The climate crisis is on our doorstep—and families in Washington state are seeing its challenges firsthand, from extreme temperatures to increasingly dangerous wildfires,” said Senator Murray. “As climate-related natural disasters become more frequent and more severe, we need to be doing everything we can to make sure our energy grid can handle the increased strain. Making our grid more resilient and more able to withstand extreme weather events is absolutely critical to ensuring that families in Washington state aren’t left in the dark or in dangerous temperatures when disaster strikes—so I’m proud to have worked to secure this essential funding as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”
Climate change and global warming have caused higher temperatures, deadlier heatwaves, worse wildfire seasons, stronger hurricanes and other storms, and more. These weather and climate events can affect the reliability of all aspects of the grid, from power generation and transmission to demand. Beyond physically damaging components of the grid, the events can also drive a massive spike in energy demand that overwhelms the available electricity supply, causing brownouts, rolling blackouts or total blackouts. The Government Accountability Office estimated in 2021 that without upgrades to the grid, weather-related power outages could cost utility companies and customers billions of dollars annually in the coming decades.
The Department of Energy’s Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants Program is designed to strengthen and modernize America’s power grid against disruptive events and natural disasters. The program is distributing funding to states, territories, and federally recognized Indian Tribes over five years based on a formula that includes factors such as population size, land area, probability and severity of disruptive events, and a locality’s historical expenditures on mitigation efforts. The states, territories, and Tribes will then award these funds to a diverse set of projects, with priority given to efforts that generate the greatest community benefit providing clean, affordable, and reliable energy.
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