The Nebraska Department of Water, Energy, and Environment recently announced the award of over $15 million in grants to local communities to support critical infrastructure upgrades that will strengthen the reliability and resilience of Nebraska’s electric grid.
Grant recipients include public power communities in the state.
The grants are awarded through DWEE’s Grid Resiliency Grant Program, which received federal funds through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Preventing Outages and Enhancing the Electric Grid/Hazard Hardening Program. The program is supported by the DOE’s Grid Deployment Office as part of a nationwide effort to modernize and secure the country’s energy infrastructure.
DWEE’s Grid Resiliency Grant Program is designed to help utilities improve the reliability of Nebraska’s electrical grid, enhance the grid’s resilience in the face of extreme weather and other hazards, and to improve systems’ ability to recover after disruptive events and attacks.
Awarded projects include replacing old power poles and transformers, improving substations, installing stronger and more efficient transmission lines, and using new technology to better monitor and manage the flow of electricity. Some projects will also move power lines underground to reduce the risk of outages.
Each community receiving funding is also contributing matching dollars to cover the remaining project costs, showing a strong local commitment to building safer, more resilient energy systems for the future.
Grant recipients that are public power communities and their projects include:
Ansley, Neb. ($1,097,047)
Update distribution system from 2.4kV delta to 12.5kV grounded wye. Replace poles, transformers, overhead conductors, and regulators. Add a primary feed from CPPD Substation to provide a dedicated circuit into the community.
Central City, Neb. ($1,800,000)
Replace 34.5kV transmission line with 69kV transmission line. Perform upgrades to two substations, including transformers. New equipment includes 69kV power lines, new poles, new 69kV to 12.5kV transformers.
Fairbury, Neb. ($855,049)
Retire existing 34.5kV line and install 1.5 miles of new, weather-resistant 34.5 kV line. The new line is anticipated to address existing system susceptibilities, improve reliability, guarantee system redundancies, and reduce system losses by increasing the line's thermal and transfer capacity.
Falls City, Neb. ($548,524)
Upgrade existing 5kV infrastructure with a 13.8kV system to ensure the continuity of essential services, such as power supply to critical facilities. The project will install underground cabling, replace the 50-plus-year-old wooden structure with modern, resilient components, and implement of advanced monitoring equipment.
Fremont, Neb. ($1,914,455)
Relocate one of the 69kV transmission circuits, which will include storm mitigation-based design standards using upgraded poles and conductors. The transmission relocate will be a total of three miles. Eliminates a double-circuited power supply.
Nebraska City Utilities ($1,419,708)
Replace switchgears and relays and incorporate substation into existing SCADA. Construction of climate-controlled enclosure for equipment. The objective is to enhance the resilience and reliability to reduce future outage durations.
Nelson, Neb. ($362,994)
Inspect, repair, or replace aging utility poles and cutouts in the city’s distribution system. Replace cracked and potentially hazardous cutouts to ensure the safety of maintenance workers and the public.
Village of Oxford, Neb. ($646,190)
Convert the remainder of the system to 12.5kV, replace switchgear breakers, install underground circuits, and construct a 12.5kV distribution line around the community.
Red Cloud, Neb. ($626,203)
New underground and overhead power lines will provide an upgraded circuit to 13.8Y/7.96kV. It will include a combination of conductors, new poles, and underground equipment, providing redundancy.
Tecumseh, Neb. ($851,358)
Add and replace substation equipment, including switchgears and transformers; install new meters; and add building to house equipment for protection from inclement weather.
Wymore, Neb. ($381,143)
Replace and rebuild critical infrastructure replacing and rebuilding aging H structure poles along the feed lines from the substation, upgrading existing transformers and adding additional transformers to meet load requirements.
