Suzanne Jaworowski, the Indiana secretary of energy and natural resources, said Indiana has added more energy generation to the electrical grid than any other state in the Midwest Independent System Operator or Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection systems in recent years.
Now, the state is receiving hundreds of millions of dollars through a federal program to help with electricity production.
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On Thursday, during a news conference, Jaworowski said a new partnership between Indiana and the U.S. Department of Energy will continue to facilitate energy growth statewide.
Gov. Mike Braun and DOE General Counsel Jonathan Brightbill joined Jaworowski for the Thursday news conference.
Indiana will participate in the “Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades,” also known as SPARK, program in the DOE’s office of electricity. According to the DOE website, the program will help fund 31 grid improvement projects across 26 states.
Through the SPARK program, Indiana will receive $175 million to expand the transfer capacity between PJM and MISO interconnection.
“Indiana and partners will modernize existing transmission corridors with advanced conductors and deploy grid enhancing technologies, including dynamic line ratings, advanced power flow controllers and topology optimization software,” Brightbill said. “What that means is pretty simple. It means getting more out of the existing grid. It will unlock between 2,000 and 4,000 megawatts of transfer capacity across this scene and help these two regional grids move power between them more effectively and more cost effectively.”
Improvements are expected to reduce congestion costs and bring benefits of between $50 million and $150 million each year to surrounding ratepayers, Brightbill said, and support more than five megawatts of “new dispatchable generation and large loan interconnections.”
“The project can generate real world, operational data, and modeling can inform similar projects around the country,” Brightbill said. “Indiana will help to lead the country. It will help bring power where Americans need it, bring power that is affordable.”
Braun said the state’s “enterprising leadership” helps Indiana’s involvement in programs like SPARK. On Thursday, the governor also announced a partnership between Indiana and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that gives the state more authority over nuclear power.
“You should be noticing a pattern here,” Braun said. “Indiana is on the leading edge of a lot of stuff.”
Braun thanked the DOE for including Indiana in the program and agreed that it will help with energy generation and affordability statewide.
Nationwide, SPARK projects will receive $5.25 billion in total — $1.9 billion in DOE federal funding and $3.35 billion in recipient cost-share funding, according to its website.
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“This is also designed to reduce costs and increase affordability for American households and businesses,” Brightbill said. “SPARK advances our speed to power strategy by focusing on projects that can be brought to bear quickly.”
Project recipients are expected to reconductor or rebuild more than 1,500 miles of transmission lines and deploy grid-enhancing technologies across nearly 21,000 miles.
Brightbill said Thursday that the program will create more than 23 gigawatts of additional electricity capacity.
“That’s a lot,” he said. “One nuclear power plant is one gigawatt, so unlocking 23 gigawatts across the country is a big step forward. We’ll benefit more than 39 million customer sites across the participating territories.”