HEA receives $1 million Federal grant for grid upgrades to mitigate wildfire risks

Highline Electric Association has received $1.02 million from the United States Department of Energy to enhance wildfire protection and resilience in the communities it serves by making critical upgrades to its electric system. HEA is a member of a consortium of 38 electric co-ops and other rural utilities selected to receive federal funding through the Wildfire Assessment and Resilience for Networks project, or WARN.

“Highline Electric is pleased to have been awarded DOE WARN funding that will bolster our efforts to mitigate wildfire risk throughout our rural footprint. Funds will be used to help purchase and install electronic reclosers allowing our Engineering and Operations teams to remotely monitor and control line sections in high wildfire risk areas and avoid potential ignition during high wildfire risk events.” says Tad Huser, Manager of Member Services at HEA.

Visit HEA’s Department of Energy WARN webpage to see more details about our wildfire mitigation efforts involved in this project at http://www.hea.coop/DOEMemberOutreach.

Led by Holy Cross Energy in coordination with NRECA Research, WARN will provide more than $145 million in wildfire mitigation funding to co-ops across 16 states in the central and western United States to drive energy resilience in high-risk rural areas.

“Electric cooperatives are focused on leveraging innovative solutions to meet tomorrow’s energy needs,” said NRECA Chief Executive Officer Jim Matheson. “This infrastructure funding is an important step as electric co-ops work to harden systems against wildfires and enhance the reliability of the grid. These projects hold tremendous potential for local communities as their co-ops unlock new ways to use technology to help mitigate wildfires and keep the lights on.”

Working together, consortium members will share lessons learned and expertise and provide real world data to create an advanced analysis tool to identify the likely impacts of utility-ignited wildfires on regional electricity supplies and local communities.

WARN funding comes from DOE’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.