The Utah GRID Grant Program is a funding opportunity for Utah's large and small utility providers to improve and upgrade the state's electrical grid, preventing outages and enhancing resiliency.

The Utah Grid Resilience Program (GRID 40101d) is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (IIJA).

This grant program aims to enable improvement and technology adoption that prevent outages while also enhancing the resilience of the electrical grid in Utah. Utilities serving Utah are eligible to apply. The required funding match will be determined according to each utility’s annual electricity sales:

  • Large utilities, defined as entities that sell more than 4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year, are required to match 100% of the requested fund.

  • Small utilities, defined as entities that sell less than 4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year, are required to match at least 33.34% of the requested fund.

Application details and timeline for 2027 awards will be announced soon. Please visit https://energy.utah.gov/ to stay updated for funding opportunities.

Resilience Formula Grants to States and Indian Tribes IIJA Section 40101(d) defined:

"Authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, managed through the Grid Deployment Office (GDO), and administered by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), the Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants program is designed to strengthen and modernize America’s power grid against wildfires, extreme weather, and other natural disasters.

The program will distribute funding to states, territories, and federally recognized Indian tribes, including Alaska Native Regional Corporations and Alaska Native Village Corporations, over five years based on a formula that includes factors such as population size, land area, probability and severity of disruptive events, and a locality’s historical expenditures on mitigation efforts. The states, territories, and tribes will then award these funds to a diverse set of projects, with priority given to efforts that generate the greatest community benefit providing affordable and reliable energy." (source)

Utah Grid Security and Reliability Technical Support

The Utah Smart Energy Lab, in partnership with the Utah Office of Energy Development (OED), is excited to offer technical assistance to small Utah utilities as they prepare submission for next round of Utah GRID Grant funding program. Please complete the form below to set up a 1:1 meeting with the U-Smart team, so we discuss how to best support your application and provide the technical assistance needed for your upcoming application. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the expected deliverables from approved projects?

  • Reduction in frequency (occurrences per year) of electricity service disruptions of one hour or more to residences and businesses.
  • Reduction in total number of hours of electricity service disruptions to residences and businesses.
  • Reduction of disruptive events to critical facilities.
  • Number of tangible assets (e.g., poles, covered conductors, underground wires, cameras, switches, relays, and controllers) installed as part of the resilience project(s).
  • Percentage of the resilience projects conducted in or benefitting disadvantaged communities.
  • Number of jobs created in the State of Utah to construct, operate, and maintain the resilience project.
  • Number of small businesses in the State of Utah retained to develop/maintain the modernized grid infrastructure.
  • Number of individuals trained through partnerships with labor unions and/or workforce training programs within the State of Utah to advance the workforce in grid resilience, and
  • The total personnel costs paid to implement and maintain the resilience project(s). (source)

What is the Davis-Bacon Act and its requirements?

Learn about the Davis-Bacon Act here.

What is Build America, Buy America (BABA) and its requirements?

Learn about Build America, Buy America here.

Reporting Documents and Deadlines

Quarterly Reporting:

Project Management Plan (PMP) and Quarterly Progress Report (QPR)

The Project Management Plan is used by recipients to report on the progress of their projects.

Quarterly Metrics and Impact Report

Awardees must report on the metrics that are applicable to quantify the impacts of the investment in the Utah Grid Resiliency Program - Quarterly and Annually. 

Davis Bacon Semi-annual Report

Regulations at 29 C.F.R. § 5.5(a)(3)(ii) require contractors to submit weekly a copy of all payrolls to the Federal agency contracting for or financing the construction project, accompanied by a signed "Statement of Compliance“ (page 2 of WH-347) indicating that the payrolls are correct and complete and that each laborer or mechanic has been paid not less than the proper Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rate for the work performed. (source)

Weekly payroll submission

  • LCP Tracker – Certified Payroll Reporting Software
    • This will be the software used to submit certified weekly payrolls.
    • The tracker will be available by the end of the 2024 calendar year.
    • Website available here.

Annual Reporting:

Annual Program Metrics and Impact Report

The Annual and Program Metrics and Impact Report is used by recipients to report on the impact of their projects.

SF-425 - Federal Financial Report

The Financial Report is used by recipients to submit reports on their grant's financial progress.