Biden releases money in push to modernize US electric grid

The federal government is making money available to build and improve electric transmission lines

NEW YORK -- The federal government said Tuesday it is making more than $8 billion available to build and improve the nation's transmission lines as part of its efforts to improve America's aging electric grid and meet President Joe Biden's ambitious clean-energy goals. The administration is also pledging to speed up a sluggish permitting process that has delayed the types of major transmission projects that are crucial to meeting Biden's goals. The president has said he wants the nation to produce 100% clean energy by 2035. But that goal faces massive hurdles. Those include an electric grid that has been pummeled by climate change and which needs enormous expansion to carry electricity from renewable energy sources to densely populated regions. The Department of Energy said it will release $8.25 billion in loans for developers to improve the grid's ability to carry renewable energy from the windy, sunny plains to the regions that need it most.