September 28, 2009—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced more than $144 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds on September 21 for the electric power sector, including a $100 million solicitation for smart grid workforce training programs, plus $44 million in awards to state public utility commissions.
The workforce initiative will expand job creation and career advancement opportunities associated with smart grid and electricity transmission projects, and will help establish training programs for workers in the utility industry and electrical manufacturing sectors who will play a key role in modernizing the country’s electrical grid.
Also, state public utility commissions (PUCs), which regulate and oversee electricity projects in their states, will receive more than $44.2 million in Recovery Act funds to hire new staff and retrain existing employees to ensure they have the capacity to quickly and effectively review proposed electricity projects. The funds will help the individual state PUCs accelerate reviews of the large number of electric utility requests that are expected under the Recovery Act.
State PUCs will be reviewing electric utility investments in projects such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, carbon capture and storage, transmission lines, energy storage, smart grid, demand response equipment, and electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. Awardees include the PUCs in every state except Massachusetts and Nebraska.
