Biden's $2T infrastructure plan would overhaul grid

Biden's $2T infrastructure plan would overhaul grid

By:
Lesley Clark

| 03/31/2021 07:19 AM EDT

ENERGYWIRE | President Biden will unveil a $2 trillion, eight-year plan today that features efforts to speed up a transition to clean energy, including $100 billion to upgrade the U.S. electric grid and to give the Energy Department more clout in disputes over siting power lines.

The sweeping "American Jobs Plan," which Biden will begin pitching at an event this afternoon in energy-rich Pennsylvania, also calls for huge investments in carbon capture projects, $174 billion in electric vehicles, and the repeal of subsidies and foreign tax credits for the fossil fuel industry.

Citing the recent Texas power outages, White House officials said yesterday that the electric grid "needs urgent modernization" and that Biden's plans would not only lead to a more resilient grid, lower energy bills and new jobs, but also put the U.S. "on the path to achieving 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035."

The package includes a targeted investment tax credit to incentivize the build-out of at least 20 gigawatts of high-voltage power lines needed to unlock more renewable energy generation, according to a summary shared with reporters yesterday. It would also establish a new Grid Deployment Authority at DOE that would allow the agency to better leverage existing rights of way along roads and railways and would support "creative financing tools" to encourage additional high-priority transmission lines.