DOBSON, N.C. (October 18, 2023) – On October 18, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) selected Surry-Yadkin Electric Membership Corporation to receive over $7.48 million to enhance the U.S. power grid's ability to deliver affordable, clean energy to American communities across the SYEMC service area. The funds will advance the Grid Deployment to Support Rural-Focused Resiliency at a Small-Scale Electric Co-op project to benefit the over 27,860 member-owners of Surry-Yadkin EMC.
“Extreme weather events fueled by climate change will continue to strain the nation’s aging transmission systems, but President Biden’s Investing in America agenda will ensure America’s power grid can provide reliable, affordable power,” said U.S Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. She added, “Today’s announcement represents the largest-ever direct investment in critical grid infrastructure, supporting projects that will harden systems, improve energy reliability and affordability.” At the same time, the projects will provide jobs in the community.
“As a small rural electric cooperative with over 90% of our revenue falling on residential member-owners, the Department of Energy grant funding will help strengthen our reliability and service while minimizing the impact of the cost of maintenance and upgrades to our member-owners,” said Greg Puckett, executive vice president and general manager of Surry-Yadkin EMC. “We had a great team of employees working on the grant application, and we are thrilled for the co-op and its member-owners that we were chosen as a recipient.”
The funds are part of the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program, which seeks to enhance grid flexibility and improve the resilience of the power system against growing threats of extreme weather and climate change. Funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and administered by DOE’s Grid Deployment Office, the GRIP program leverages federal and private investments to ensure that communities across the nation have a reliable grid that's prepared for extreme weather while also delivering affordable, clean energy and creating robust local opportunities for economic investment and jobs.
This project will support a series of smart grid infrastructure upgrades including system monitoring, line replacements to increase grid capacity and the deployment of an automated restoration system that enables the grid to quickly identify and minimize the impacts of the outage. Benefits of the project include decreasing the duration, frequency and impacts of outages by 15%; reducing maintenance costs by $2 million over the next 30 years as a result of improved system operations; increasing overall electrical system capacity by about 500% to support increase distributed energy resource (DER) integration. In addition, it is expected to enhance the Surry-Yadkin Electric system by providing real-time electrical grid data to target damaged areas during outages.
To learn more, visit Surry-Yadkin EMC’s website and the Grid Deployment Office’s website at energy.gov/gdo/grid-deployment-office.
About SYEMC
Surry-Yadkin Electric Membership Corporation, founded in 1940, is a not-for-profit, member-owned Touchstone Energy cooperative serving about 27,860 member-accounts in five counties — Surry, Yadkin, Stokes, Wilkes and Forsyth counties. SYEMC’s mission is to provide outstanding service that powers our rural communities. For more information about SYEMC, visit www.syemc.com.
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