Alaska is in line for the third-largest share of federal grid money among states

Alaska is in line for about $32.8 million more in federal money to make its power grid sturdier, the third-largest share of any state after California and Texas, according to the Alaska Energy Authority. It's also $12.8 million more than the authority expected.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced the allocation Oct. 20, the final round of a grid resilience program created by the 2021 federal infrastructure law. The department split about $967 million among states, territories and tribes using a formula that weighs population, land area, the likelihood and severity of disruptive events, and how much has been spent in the past to prevent them.

The energy authority, which runs the program for the state, has picked six projects worth about $39 million in two earlier rounds, according to its project map. The biggest, $10.3 million, goes to Golden Valley Electric Association for the Alaska Intertie, where uneven snow loading makes the lines sag along the southern 80 miles.

Golden Valley won three more. One, worth $8.9 million, would reconfigure insulators to reduce faults from snow-sagged lines and replace or move lines in Interior areas where permafrost is sinking. Another, worth $7 million, would replace or repair deteriorated transmission poles. A $1.7 million project would set up a network that tracks disturbances across the Railbelt grid.

Matanuska Electric Association got $6.3 million to relocate and upgrade a 6.2-mile stretch of the aging Eklutna line, which carries hydropower, near Palmer. The Southeast Alaska Power Agency, which supplies Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg, got $4.5 million for a new substation in Ketchikan to relieve the existing one.

The new money isn't in hand yet. The energy authority said it is working to secure the full amount through a timely application, which requires a $1.8 million state match. It plans a third and final competitive round to choose projects, open to past recipients, but hasn't set a date.

The state's share doesn't include money for tribes, which get their own allocations directly. This month, the Village of Solomon announced it had used part of its share to help buy Nome's utility a new bucket truck.