HARRISBURG, PA \u2014 In case you missed it, more than 20,000 Pennsylvanians could see fewer and shorter power outages under a new round of state-funded electric grid upgrades totaling over $10 million.<\/p>\n
What This Means for You<\/p>\n
Power outages may become less frequent and shorter in affected areas
\nEmergency services and businesses could see more reliable electricity
\nProjects will modernize aging infrastructure across multiple counties<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced the funding through its Grid Resilience Grants program, which supports projects designed to strengthen the electric system against disruptions.<\/p>\n
Electric grid resilience refers to the ability of power systems to prevent outages or recover quickly when disruptions occur, such as severe weather, equipment failure, or increased demand.<\/p>\n
How the Projects Will Improve Reliability<\/p>\n
State officials said the funding will support upgrades across nine counties, including the installation of more than 100 pieces of \u201csmart grid\u201d equipment.<\/p>\n
Smart grid technology uses digital monitoring and automated controls to detect problems and reroute electricity, helping prevent outages or restore power faster.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow more than ever we need to build infrastructure that keeps our power grid reliable and mitigates challenges such as climate change-driven weather events, population growth, and aging infrastructure,\u201d said DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley.<\/p>\n
Where the Funding Is Going<\/p>\n
Six entities received grants for specific projects:<\/p>\n
REA Energy Cooperative received $1.5 million to install smart grid equipment serving 9,000 customers in Cambria, Indiana, and Westmoreland counties
\nNorthwestern Rural Electric Cooperative received $4.68 million to connect substations and reduce outages by up to 85 percent in Erie and Crawford counties
\nThe Borough of Duncannon received $507,840 to add system connections and reduce outages in Perry County
\nThe Borough of Schuylkill Haven received $994,746 to install advanced monitoring systems for faster outage response
\nClaverack Rural Electric Cooperative received $2.19 million to install a battery energy system supporting critical facilities in Susquehanna County
\nThe Borough of Hatfield received $355,945 to replace 56 aging utility poles in Montgomery County<\/p>\n
Officials said the projects will involve more than 40 types of energy sector jobs, including engineers, technicians, and utility workers.<\/p>\n
Why Officials Say It Matters<\/p>\n
Frequent outages can disrupt health care, emergency response, and business operations. State officials said these investments are intended to reduce those risks and improve service reliability.<\/p>\n
The program is funded through the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which provides states with funding to strengthen energy systems.<\/p>\n
Next Steps<\/p>\n
All awards are pending final approval from the U.S. Department of Energy before projects can move forward.<\/p>\n
For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News<\/a> and MSN<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARRISBURG, PA \u2014 In case you missed it, more than 20,000 Pennsylvanians could see fewer and shorter power…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[46172,28,2220,30,29,9174,66397,66398],"class_list":["post-145584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-electrical-grid","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-department-of-environmental-protection","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-power-outage","tag-resilience-power-system","tag-smart-grid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}