The DOE is prioritising clean energy, such as wind or solar power, as well as offshore wind generation in the Atlantic Ocean.
The DOE also announced minimum eligibility criteria for direct loans under the transmission facility financing (TFF) programme.
The potential corridors include one or more transmission projects currently under development, and range from 19km to 1,255km in length and from 1.6km to 160km in width.
They are often parallel to existing rights of way such as state highways and high-voltage transmission lines.
The corridors have the potential to facilitate the integration of renewable energy resources such as wind and solar, including offshore wind off the east coast, and could increase transmission capacity between the eastern and western interconnections, the DOE said.
They include:
- Delta – Plains, from north Texas to Arkansas;
- Mid-Atlantic, which includes portions of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and west Virginia;
- Mid-Atlantic – Canada, which includes an onshore portion in northern Pennsylvania and offshore portion to the Canadian border in Lake Erie;
- Midwest – Plains, from Kansas to Indiana;
- Mountain – Northwest, between Oregon and Nevada;
- Mountain Plains – Southwest, between Colorado and southern New Mexico;
- New York - Mid-Atlantic, between New Jersey and New York City to aid integration of offshore wind generation in the Atlantic Ocean;
- New York - New England, between New York State and Massachussets;
- Northern Plains, includes portions of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and several Tribal Nations
- Plains – Southwest, Includes portions of Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
A 45-day consultation period is now under way.
‘Grid showing its age’
“At more than a century old, our power grid is showing its age, leaving American consumers to bear the costs of maintaining it with frequent and longer power outages from extreme weather,” said energy secretary Jennifer Granholm.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is leveraging every tool to expand transmission and deploy more reliable, affordable, and clean power in every pocket of the nation,” she added.
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