HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Typhoon Mawar battered Guam near the end of May, tearing up houses, uprooting trees and knocking out power and water services throughout the island. The impact on the power grid also affected water services, as a number of water wells lost power and, for one reason or another, weren’t immediately able to tap into generator power.
Some residents saw essential services restored relatively quickly while others waited weeks. Power restoration was said to be the quickest that Guam has so far seen following a major typhoon.
While hardening efforts, such as the installation of concrete power poles, proved useful in mitigating damage, Mawar again brought up questions on how the system could be hardened further.
Doing so is estimated to cost billions of dollars, but the Guam Power Authority does have the opportunity to tap into some federal funding provided under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. According to Laurie Tumaneng, a management analyst at the power utility, the federal law created 60 new U.S. Department of Energy programs to address grid resilience.
A section of the law authorizes formula grants to states and Indian tribes for preventing outages and enhancing the resiliency of their electric grids.
Tumaneng presented information about the grant program, its requirements and how it aligns with GPA’s objectives during a public hearing Wednesday. The grant funding opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time, she said.
Ninety-eight percent of power poles on Guam are now made of concrete or steel, and nearly 25% of GPA customers receive power through underground lines. While these improvements contributed significantly to the resilience of the power grid, Typhoon Mawar showed “that the work must continue,” Tumaneng said.
One consideration that GPA would have for grant funding is underground transmission lines and lines connecting to water wells.
Grant focus
Guam’s annual grant formula allocation is about $871,337 per year for the next five years. That’s more than $4.3 million over the length of the program. For this grant cycle, GPA will be submitting an application for its year one and year two allocations, Tumaneng said.
“The focus of this grant is how our electric grid responds to extreme events versus the day-to-day operation of the authority,” she added.
Qualified uses of the grant funding include weatherization technologies and equipment, utility pole management, and the undergrounding of electrical equipment, among others.
Tumaneng said many such projects are in the planning stages for the utility, but GPA needs to prioritize which projects receive funding under the infrastructure grant. Priority will be based on which project generates the greatest community benefit in reducing the likelihood and consequences of disruptive events.
Ineligible projects for the grant include the construction of new electric generation facilities or large-scale battery storage facilities not used for enhancing adaptive capacity during disruptive events, or cybersecurity projects.
GPA identified three objectives for its draft program narratives: improve grid resilience; support Guam’s grid workforce; and promote grid equity.
“While the grant program narrative really is for overarching themes rather than specific projects, I note through the typhoon there has been an increase in demand for underground projects. And so one of our considerations would be to (put) underground our transmission lines, as well as our lines connecting to our (Guam Waterworks Authority) water wells,” Tumaneng said Wednesday.
She presented a map of potential new projects for underground transmission lines and lines connecting to wells. These are in the planning stages and work hasn’t begun, she added.
Small utilities must match one-third of federal grant funding received, while all other recipients must match 100%, according to Tumaneng, who said GPA qualifies as a small utility.
While Wednesday’s public hearing was required for the grant, no public comments were given that day. The public hearing can be viewed on the Consolidated Commission on Utilities’ YouTube page. Questions and comments can be emailed to Tumaneng at ltumaneng@gpagwa.com.
Guam Power Authority vehicles are parked and serviced at maintenance buildings Aug. 2, 2023, in Tamuning.
