DOE allots $44 million to help make the electric grid more sustainable and reliable
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has allocated $34 million to help create a clean, reliable electricity grid that runs on wind and solar energy. The funds will be used to support 11 projects selected for the Solar Energy Technologies Office’s Operation and Planning Tools for Inverter-Based Resource Management and Availability for the Future Power System (OPTIMA) funding program. The projects are designed to help grid planners and operators implement new technologies that allow the grid to be more flexible and resilient to changes. In addition, the DOE has introduced a new $10 million funding opportunity to streamline the interconnection of clean energy to the grid.
What people are saying
In a recent quote, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said, “We can’t deploy clean energy if we can’t get renewable sources connected onto our grid. Thanks to support from the Biden-Harris Administration, we are developing new, state-of-the-art tools to break up logjams to connect more clean energy sources to the grid even faster, giving Americans access to more affordable and resilient sources of clean energy.”
Latest news from the DOE
DOE announces initiative to increase manufacturing of rooftop heat pumps
The program aims to bring heat pump rooftop units to market as soon as 2027.
DOE allocates $62 million to reduce costs for battery recycling
The funding, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will be used to support 17 projects.
DOE allocates $6 billion to decarbonize energy-intensive industries and strengthen U.S. manufacturing
This is the largest investment in industrial decarbonization in America to date.
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About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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