H.R. 10584: Wildfire and Grid Reliability Act

This bill would create a new grant program at the Department of Energy to help electric utilities make their power systems more reliable and reduce the chance that power lines start wildfires.

What the program would do

Within 90 days after the bill becomes law, the Secretary of Energy would have to set up the program in the Office of Electricity. The Department of Energy would then award grants to eligible electric utilities, including:

• publicly owned utilities
• municipal utilities
• cooperatives
• investor-owned utilities
• certain federal electric utilities

The grants would support projects that are meant to either reduce wildfire risk from power lines or improve the reliability of the power grid. The bill says these projects must be supplemental to what the utility was already planning to do that year and must improve public safety.

Examples of eligible uses of grant money

Grant money could be used for a wide range of grid upgrades, including:

• burying new or existing power lines underground
• strengthening overhead lines with more fire-resistant or durable materials, such as steel poles or covered wires
• replacing outdated overhead conductors and underground cables
• installing fast-tripping protection systems
• building and operating weather monitoring stations
• adding fault-location or early fault-detection equipment
• moving power lines to roadsides
• vegetation and fuel management to reduce fire risk, where allowed by law
• technology to reduce animal-related damage to the grid
• cameras, sensors, and other tools that provide real-time conditions
• technology that detects downed power lines
• equipment for targeted microgrids and storage to help communities after outages
• hardening substations and other facilities against earthquakes
• other related upgrades that reduce wildfire ignition or weather-related damage

How grants would be prioritized and divided

The Energy Secretary would have to favor projects that provide the greatest community benefit compared with their cost. The bill also sets aside funding in two ways:

• At least 40% of total program funds must go to projects aimed at reducing wildfire risk.
• At least 20% of total program funds must go to smaller utilities that sell no more than 4 million megawatt-hours of electricity per year.

Application and matching funds

Utilities would have to apply for grants in a form and manner set by the Secretary. Depending on the type of grant, applicants would need to submit either a wildfire mitigation plan or a report describing their past, current, and future efforts to improve grid reliability.

Most grant recipients would have to match the federal grant with at least an equal amount of cash or in-kind support. Smaller utilities would only have to match one-third of the grant amount. The bill also allows money already spent on qualifying reliability or wildfire mitigation work in the year before receiving the grant to count toward the match, if approved by the Secretary.

Other provisions

The bill would allow the Department of Energy to provide technical assistance to utilities applying for grants or carrying out funded projects. It would also allow grants to help utilities hire or retain people to support planning, financing, and implementation of these projects. Those assistance grants would not count toward the bill’s funding set-asides and would not be subject to the matching requirement.

For federal power marketing administrations, grant amounts would be nonreimbursable.

The Secretary of Energy would have to report to Congress every two years on how much the program has improved grid reliability and reduced wildfire risk from power lines.

The bill would authorize $15 billion per year from fiscal year 2027 through fiscal year 2036 to carry out the program.

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