2023-026 GRIP Grant March 17, 2023 Report No. 2023-026
INFORMAL STAFF REPORT
TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT:
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership (GRIP) Program
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Denton Municipal Electric (DME) has submitted two concept papers to the US Department of
Energy (DOE) for proposed projects under the GRIP program. The first proposed project is to
implement an Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS), improving control and
monitoring of the distribution system. The second proposal is for the design and completion of a
distribution system of renewable generation resources and storage serving the University of
North Texas (UNT) campus and creating energy capacity on the DME distribution grid to serve
local customers. The DOE has reviewed the proposals and encouraged the City to submit a full
application on each project, advancing both proposals to the next step of the grant process.
BACKGROUND:
GRIP is a $10.5 billion program funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,
commonly referred to as BIL, with the purpose to enhance grid flexibility and improve the
resilience of the power system against growing threats of extreme weather and climate
change. The first round of funding for this program is $3.8 billion for FY 22 and 23. GRIP
includes three funding Topic Areas:
• Topic Area I — Grid Resilience Utility and Industry Grants ($2.5 billion)- supports
activities that will modernize the electric grid to reduce impacts due to extreme weather
and natural disasters.
• Topic Area 2 — Smart Grid ($3 billion) — aims to increase the flexibility, efficiency, and
reliability of the electric power system, with particular focus on increasing capacity of the
transmission system, preventing faults that may lead to wildfires or other system
disturbances, integrating renewable energy at the transmission and distribution levels, and
facilitating the integration of increasing electrified vehicles, buildings, and other grid-
edge devices.
• Topic Area 3 — Grid Innovation ($5 billion) — provides financial assistance to one or
multiple states, Tribes, local governments, and public utility commissions to collaborate
with electric sector owners and operators to deploy projects that use innovative
approaches to transmission, storage, and distribution infrastructure to enhance grid
resilience and reliability.
Concept papers, outlining a proposed project, are a required first step in the application
process and submission deadlines vary by funding Topic Area. DME has submitted two concept
papers for proposed projects under Topic Area 2 and 3. Both Topic Areas require a 50 percent
non-federal source match.
To modernize the grid and reduce service impacts related to natural events, remote control and
monitoring of the DME distribution system is proposed under Topic Area 2. Currently, DME
relies on substation breakers to disconnect the power in the event of a fault, customers to call in
March 17, 2023 Report No. 2023-026
to report an outage, and line crews to find the affected circuit and restore power. Utility providers
are implementing ADMS, a software platform that integrates numerous utility systems and
provides automated outage restoration and optimization of distribution grid performance. ADMS
functions include automated Fault Location, Isolation, and Service Restoration (FLISR),
conservation voltage reduction, peak demand management, and volt/volt-ampere reactive
(voltNAR) optimization. DME strongly believes that this proven technology can provide safe
and secure management of an increasing volume of data on the distribution electric grid while
enabling the effective management of distributed renewable energy, electric vehicle charging,
and other grid-connected devices.
In collaboration with Hunt Energy Enterprises (HEE) and UNT, DME proposes integrating
batteries into existing wind generators and future solar energy resources managed by DME and
UNT, on the UNT campus, to increase overall system resilience and provide new sources of
reliable power and renewable power to the citizens of Denton and the students and faculty of
UNT as well as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid. The design and
completion of the proposed project will provide a distribution system of renewable generation
resources and storage serving the University of North Texas (UNT) campus and create energy
capacity on the DME distribution grid to serve local customers and provide ancillary services
like fast frequency response, voltage support, congestion management, and power quality
management to the distribution network. The collaborative and innovative approach to enhance
grid resilience and reliability meets the requirements of Topic Area 3.
DOE has reviewed the proposals and encouraged the City to submit a full application on each
project, advancing both proposals to the next step of the process. The deadline for Topic Area 2
full applications is March 17, 2023 and the deadline for Topic Area 3 is May 19, 2023. Staff is
currently working to finalize the required documents and budget for the ADMS application
(Topic Area 2). Discussions between the City, UNT, and HEE continue regarding a distribution
system of renewable generation resources and storage. Submission of a full application under
Topic Area 3 will be dependent on an agreed collaboration.
STAFF CONTACT:
Laura Behrens
Assistant Director of Procurement
Laura.Behrens@cityofdenton.com
(940) 349-7273
PARTICIPATING DEPARTMENTS:
DME
Grant Management Office