LIPA to get $400M in federal storm-hardening aid, officials say

The Long Island Power Authority will receive more than $400 million from the federal government to help harden the Long Island electric grid in response to the utility requests following Tropical Storm Isaias.

The program will pay for LIPA and its contractor, PSEG Long Island, to replace 11,000 utility poles with stronger ones of the same height that are capable of withstanding hurricane-force winds up to 135 miles per hour. The money also will go toward replacing more than 1,300 miles of main power lines with more durable electric wire, and undergrounding about nine miles of power lines, officials said.

The federal funds will pay for the hiring of 100 additional workers, who will also be on hand to help LIPA respond to future storms. 

The funding was announced by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), whose office advocated for the money from the Biden administration, along with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Gov. Kathy Hochul. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which awards the grants through its Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The funding will allow LIPA to make "crucial upgrades to improve our electrical grid and help keep the lights on," Hochul said in a statement. 

The storm-hardening initiative is aimed at bolstering the LIPA grid following damage from Isaias, which took out power to more than 650,000 of LIPA's 1.2 million customers in August 2020.

Kenneth Kane, LIPA’s senior adviser for oversight, has led the utility’s efforts in applying for and pursuing grant, which will “significantly bolster our ongoing efforts to build a stronger power grid and allow us to be better equipped to handle future weather challenges," acting LIPA chief John Rhodes said.  

LIPA and PSEG Long Island expect to start federally funded work on the upgrades in about a year, and complete it before the end of the decade. 

LIPA must match about 10% of the funds to complete the work, Schumer’s spokesman said.

The grant underscores one of the main advantages of LIPA as a public power entity, because only such utilities are eligible for the FEMA grants. LIPA operates as a public power utility with PSEG operating the grid under contract. PSEG has acknowledged widespread failures in its response to Tropical Storm Isaias, leading the state and LIPA to consider changes to its operating model. 

The Long Island Association, among other groups, has been advocating for LIPA to get a valuation of the Long Island grid to consider selling off the assets to a private entity, which would make it ineligible for the FEMA grants. LIA president Matt Cohen, a former LIPA official, has made opposition of a fully public LIPA bill in the State Legislature among the LIA's chief objectives this year. The legislation did not pass in  after forceful lobbying by PSEG. The LIA previously opposed privatizing LIPA. 

LIPA, following Superstorm Sandy, received upward of $1.4 billion in federal funds—about half to cover costs of responding to the storm and the other half to harden the system for future storms. Forecasters expect 2024 to be a particularly busy one for storms, which are expected to worsen in coming years because of the effects of climate change. 

By the time the project is completed, Schumer’s office said, more than 50% of LIPA’s mainline power grid will have been hardened.

"Because LIPA is a public authority, the federal government was able to step in here and make a real investment on the Island for energy resiliency," said Schumer, noting that "in other parts of the country, we have seen what can happen when power providers, particularly those owned exclusively by corporations, hold off on critical upgrades or consider profit as their main objective." 

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.