On Oct. 19, Allentown-based PPL Electric Utilities (PPL) announced it would be receiving nearly $50 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a grid modernization project.
PPL said it will receive up to $49.5 million to support its Grid of the Future infrastructure project. The funding, from the DOE’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program, will support PPL’s planned investment of $99 million in hardware and software that will deliver grid flexibility, increased reliability and resiliency, and advance an affordable transition to clean energy. PPL said it would be working with the DOE Grid Deployment Office over the next several months to finalize the terms of its plan and to secure the pending award.
“The Grid of the Future project builds on over a decade of success in self-healing smart grid innovation,” Christine Martin, president of PPL Electric Utilities, said. “This funding will allow us to accommodate a rapidly evolving electric grid balancing strong resiliency, low customer costs, and high reliability, all while embracing two-way power flow from distributed energy resources.”
The Grid of the Future project will include the addition of intelligent grid devices, sensors and automation that will help prevent and shorten power outages; predictive failure monitoring technology to improve the system’s reliability while reducing maintenance costs; real-time grid visibility to identify outages, changes in customer demand and fluctuations in resources to reroute power and balance energy flow; and implementation of IT enhancements through artificial intelligence and machine learning that will help increase connections of distributed energy resources and electric vehicle adoptions.
“Across PPL, we’re focused on creating utilities of the future that are agile, innovative and technology-enabled to drive additional value for customers and shareowners and support a reliable, affordable clean energy transition,” Vincent Sorgi, PPL president and CEO said . “As we execute our vision, we’re pleased to take advantage of this unique funding opportunity to create savings for our customers and strengthen grid resiliency.”
PPL Electric Utilities provides electricity to an estimates 1.5 million homes and business in eastern and central Pennsylvania. Part of the PPL Corporation, PPL Electric Utilities regularly ranks among the best utility companies in the country for reliability and customer satisfaction.