The Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants are designed to support communities in strengthening and modernizing America’s power grid against wildfires, extreme weather, and other natural disasters that are exacerbated by the climate crisis. The program will distribute funding to States, Territories, and Tribes 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 Grid Innovation Program provides financial assistance to one or multiple states, tribes, local governments, and public utility commissions to collaborate with electric sector owners and operators to deploy projects that use innovative approaches to transmission, storage, and distribution infrastructure to enhance grid resilience and reliability.

Released on October 30, 2023, the National Transmission Needs Study (Needs Study) serves as DOE’s triennial state of the grid report and is a robust assessment of current and near-term future transmission needs through 2040. The Needs Study is not intended to displace existing transmission planning processes and is not intended to identify specific transmission solutions to address identified needs, but it does identify key national needs that can inform investments and planning decisions.

Including Tribal governments, Tribal enterprises, Tribal utilities, and American Indian communities in the National Transmission Planning (NTP) Study is critical to identifying pathways for necessary large-scale transmission system buildouts that meet community, regional, and national objectives. Incorporating tribal input and perspectives into the system modeling and algorithms used to develop the NTP Study will help form test scenarios, refine input data, and address issues of energy justice.

The Transmission Siting and Economic Development Grants program is a $760 million investment through the Inflation Reduction Act to support states and local communities in the siting and permitting of interstate and offshore electricity transmission lines.

The Tribal Nation Offshore Wind Transmission Technical Assistance Program was developed to support the engagement of Tribal Nations in activities related to the planning and development of U.S. offshore wind transmission. It offers capacity building through educational resources, training, and on-call assistance from technical experts and researchers at the Department of Energy’s national labs. The program will also provide funding to mitigate the financial burden of participation tribal participation in key offshore wind transmission forums.

The Wholesale Electricity Market Studies and Engagement Program provides states and regions with technical and financial assistance related to developing, expanding, and improving wholesale electricity markets. This engagement will ensure these stakeholders are able to provide critical insight into market design, expansion, and improvement activities.

The Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP) works with state and local organizations to significantly accelerate the deployment of clean energy technologies, catalyze local economic development and create jobs, reduce energy costs, and avoid pollution through place-based strategies involving a wide range of government, community, business and other stakeholders.

The Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs promote tribal energy development, efficiency and use; reduce or stabilize energy costs; enhance and strengthen tribal energy and economic infrastructure; and electrify Indian lands and homes. To advance its mission, the Office of Indian Energy works with American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages to maximize the value of their energy resources through technical and financial assistance and education and capacity building.

The Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program supports tribal investment in energy-related projects by providing loan guarantees to federally recognized tribes, including Alaska Native villages or regional or village corporations, or a Tribal Energy Development Organization that is wholly or substantially owned by a federally recognized Indian Tribe or Alaska Native Corporation. The Inflation Reduction Act increased the available loan authority from $2 billion to $20 billion and provided $75 million to carry out the program. 

Access materials from GDO-sponsored workshop videos and/or webinar materials:

• Application Guidance Videos for the Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants Programs (July 2023)
• Grid Resilience Formula Grant Webinar for Tribal Entities (June 2023)
• Resilience Training for the Southeast (May 2023)
• Grid Resilience Formula Grants Webinar for Tribes (February 2023)
• 2023 Tribal Energy Webinar Series: Federal Funding for Tribes (January 2023)