Murray, Cantwell Announce $68.4 Million to Strengthen WA Grid Against Wildfires and Boost Infrastructure for EVs and Renewables

Snohomish County PUD SnoSMART project to receive $30 million to upgrade distribution grid software and infrastructure

Spokane’s Avista Utilities, Inland Power & Light, and Klickitat PUD to receive over $38 million to strengthen grid against wildfires

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, announced $30 million for the Snohomish County Public Utility District’s Secure Modern Automated and Reliable Technology Project (SnoSMART) and $38.4 million for Avista Utilities in Spokane and the Klickitat County Public Utility District’s “Advanced Solutions to Mitigate Wildfire Risk” project—both of which will help enhance grid flexibility and improve the resilience of the power system against growing threats of wildfires, extreme weather, and climate change.

The funds come from the Department of Energy’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program, a $10.5 billion dollar program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) both senators helped pass.

“The climate crisis means that extreme weather is becoming more and more common—and it’s absolutely critical that our electrical grid is resilient and able to provide reliable power for communities, even during severe weather events,” said Sen. Murray. “That’s why we made investments in grid infrastructure a priority in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This funding will be put to good use in Everett, Spokane, and Goldendale helping to ensure reliable electricity for families, mitigate wildfire risk, improve grid visibility control, and create good-paying jobs.”

“Infusing more intelligence into our nation’s energy grid will make America’s electricity supplies more secure, abundant, and affordable,” said Sen. Cantwell. “These grants will spur the smart grid investments we need to help ensure the lights stay on in Washington state during extreme weather conditions, and develop new ways to prevent future outages caused by wildfires.”

As a senior appropriator and now Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray has long worked to boost funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity, which leads the Department’s efforts to modernize our nation’s power grid and ensure it is resilient to disruptions. She helped secure a $73 million increase in funding for the Office of Electricity in last year’s government funding bill—benefitting Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), one of the nation’s leading labs on electrical grid modernization and grid-scale energy storage. And this year’s draft appropriations bill, which Senator Murray wrote, would formally establish and fund the Grid Deployment Office (GDO) which oversees and runs the GRIP program and other important grid enhancement programs from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Snohomish County PUD SnoSmart Program — $30 million 

• The Snohomish County Public Utility District ‘Secure Modern Automated and Reliable Technology (SnoSMART) is a $60 million project that will deploy hundreds of wireless-connected smart grid devices to the distribution grid and upgrade the software tools to operate the devices.
• Transforming the system visibility and control for SnoPUD’s grid operators will further prepare the grid for widespread electrification of vehicles and buildings and enhance the utility’s ability to add distributed energy resources through advanced system planning.
• 50% of the project funding ($30 million) is provided by the BIL, which Cantwell and Murray helped pass in 2021.
• More information about this project is available HERE.

Avista Utilities – Spokane and Klickitat County PUD — $38.4 million

• The Advanced Solutions to Mitigate Wildfire Risk project includes a wide coalition of industry and community stakeholders, including Avista, Klickitat PUD, and our nation’s leading grid experts at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
• The project aims to deploy a range of smart grid wildfire mitigation technologies, including satellite-based vegetation management, real-time grid-independent monitoring, and automated rapid wildfire detection.
• 50% of the project funding ($38.4 million) is provided by the BIL, which Cantwell and Murray helped pass in 2021.
• More information about this project is available HERE.

The Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program, managed by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Deployment Office (GDO), funds activities to modernize the electric grid to reduce impacts of natural disasters and extreme weather worsened by climate change; increase the flexibility, efficiency, and reliability of the electric power system with a particular focus on unlocking more solar, wind, and other clean energy and reducing faults that may lead to wildfires; and improve reliability by deploying innovative approaches to electricity transmission, storage, and distribution.

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