The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has announced that it will spend $2.2 billion U.S. to upgrade America’s aging %PowerGrid and better protect it against extreme weather.
The Biden administration said that the U.S. electric transmission system is both old and under threat from extreme weather conditions caused by climate change such as excessive heat and storms.
The U.S. power grid is also being strained by power-hungry data centres that are growing as cloud computing and artificial intelligence models proliferate across the country.
The $2.2 billion spent to upgrade the electricity grid will add nearly 13 gigawatts (GW) of energy generation capacity, and will also allow for increased data centre use, said the government.
The enhancements will also improve the transmission of renewable power, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Specifically, the federal funding will support eight new electricity generations projects across 18 U.S. states.
“The first half of 2024 has already broken records for the hottest days in Earth’s history, and as extreme weather continues to hit every part of the country, we must act with urgency to strengthen our aging grid,” said the Department of Energy in its statement.
Owing to rising energy demand, the stocks of several electricity companies have been among the top performing equities this year.
%VistraCorp (NYSE: $VST) and %ConstellationEnergy (NASDAQ: $CEG) have each seen their share price rise more than 50% in the last 12 months.