Grid Talk: EPA Gears Up $40 Billion Green Spend

“The private sector is playing a critical role.” 

Zealan Hoover,  Senior Advisor for Implementation, EPA

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is gearing up to fund $40 billion of electric grid and sustainability projects, dwarfing any effort the agency has undertaken in its 50-year history. 

Zealan Hoover, the EPA Administrator’s Senior Advisor for Implementation, discussed the range of projects to be funded to combat climate change on the Grid Talk podcast. 

“EPA’s base budget is about $10 billion dollars a year,” he said. 

“We’ve received over a $100 billion dollars in supplemental appropriations. A lot … is for electric system decarbonization and other climate investments,” Hoover said. “We have received tens of billions of dollars across multiple programs through the Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act to both accelerate grid decarbonization and to get more zero emission equipment plugged into that grid. "

States, cities and tribes are now competing for $4.6 billion worth of projects, with awards to be announced starting in July. 

“We’ve received over $30 billion dollars in project proposals so we will be funding the best of the best.” “We’re seeing really innovative proposals that are tailored to the needs of local communities and states,” Hoover said.