By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

The U.S. Department of Energy is allocating $2.2 billion in grants for upgrades of the grid to make it more resilient to extreme weather events and accommodate more renewable energy.

According to the U.S. Administration, the DOE funding is expected to support the construction of more than 600 miles of new transmission lines and the upgrade of about 400 miles of existing lines so that they can carry more current.

"The first half of 2024 has already broken records for the hottest days in Earth's history, and as extreme weather continues to hit every part of the country, we must act with urgency to strengthen our aging grid," U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a statement carried by Reuters.

As power demand grows, the share of renewables rises, and extreme weather events such as heat waves and winter freezes become more frequent, electric utilities say that the U.S. grid reliability will need significant spending, more than the expenditures in previous decades.