October 18, 2024

Mon Power has been awarded $5 million in federal funding by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations for a project that will enhance electric service reliability for customers in parts of rural West Virginia. The funding is part of the Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas (ERA) program established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“We’re honored to receive this funding, and we look forward to applying it toward system improvements that will make a real difference for thousands of our customers in rural West Virginia, reducing the number and duration of outages they experience,” said Jim Myers, President, West Virginia Operations.

The funding will be applied to help rebuild more than 23 miles of power lines in three central West Virginia counties and to connect a two-mile alternate power line with a substation in Grant County, resulting in enhanced reliability for more than 3,000 customers. The work will enable Mon Power and Potomac Edison to restore service to West Virginia customers faster by connecting them to adjacent lines that serve as a backup power feed while repairs are made during an outage.

In May, Mon Power was selected by the U.S. DOE to begin award negotiations. Submitted in 2023, our proposal was selected as one of 19 community-led projects across 12 states and 13 tribal nations and communities to receive more than $78 million to develop and deploy sustainable clean energy solutions or expand access to reliable and affordable energy in rural and remote communities across the country.

We expect to start construction on the project to start in 2025. Company representatives have engaged with city, county, state and nonprofit agencies about the proposal, providing updates and incorporating community feedback into Mon Power’s plans. We also plan to partner with community-based organizations in the affected counties to address workforce disparity gaps for historically under-resourced communities.