U.S. Department of Energy awards Duke Energy (DUK) project $57 million in cost-share funding to enhance North Carolina's energy grid

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm today announced the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Grid Deployment Office has selected the North Carolina Innovative Transmission Rebuild project to receive $57 million in cost-share funding to enhance the power grid's ability to deliver affordable, resilient energy. The project – a partnership between Duke Energy, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and State Energy Office – aims to reconstruct the 230-kV Lee-Milburnie transmission line to improve reliability for customers and meet growing electricity demand in eastern North Carolina.

"The grant announced today by the Department of Energy is a win for the communities Duke Energy serves, and signals North Carolina's leadership in the energy transition," said Kendal Bowman, Duke Energy North Carolina state president. "This project will help reduce outages, enhance the power system's resilience against extreme weather, enable the connection of more clean energy sources to the grid and create job opportunities and new partnerships with community organizations."

The Lee-Milburnie transmission line spans from the Greater Raleigh area to outside Goldsboro, N.C., including portions of Wake, Johnston and Wayne counties. The line rebuild will take place in the existing right of way to minimize the impact to nearby communities.

"Supporting our customers by helping ensure they have reliable service and restoring that service safely and quickly when we need to is our No. 1 job," said Scott Batson, senior vice president and chief power grid officer at Duke Energy. "The generous grant provided by the U.S. Department of Energy for this transmission line reconstruction work will improve the reliability of the grid while delivering affordable, clean energy to our customers."

The funds are part of the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program, the federal government's single largest direct investment into critical grid infrastructure. Funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and administered by DOE's Grid Deployment Office, the GRIP program leverages federal and private investments to support a reliable grid that is prepared for extreme weather while also delivering affordable, clean energy and creating local economic opportunities.

"This funding will help support North Carolinians' efforts to invest in grid resiliency, improve reliability, and meet electricity demand," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. "The Biden-Harris Administration is investing in the most crucial component of the nation's infrastructure, expanding and hardening the grid to allow more resilient, clean power to reach more household, and support the ongoing manufacturing boom—all while creating thousands of local jobs."

This North Carolina Innovative Transmission Rebuild will create robust opportunities for local economic development, including significant investments in workforce development programs at Nash Community College and North Carolina A&T State University.

"North Carolina A&T State University and STEPs4GROWTH are proud to be partners in developing a skilled workforce in support of Duke Energy's efforts to deliver reliable, affordable energy to its customers," said Balu Gokaraju, Ph.D., principal investigator for the STEPs4GROWTH program. "This project represents a significant investment that will not only enhance the grid but also benefit the community by creating good jobs with family sustaining wages."

The joint effort will create an estimated 550 new jobs that can be filled through partnerships with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and local community colleges.

"We have been a proud partner of Duke Energy for many years and are truly excited about this new initiative to enhance power grid reliability in North Carolina," said Lew K. Hunnicutt, President of Nash Community College. "We look forward to doing our part to support this important project, which will benefit our community through new job opportunities for skilled workers."

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