Prysmian Group, Highland Heights, KY, has been selected to receive $4.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
The funding is part of the Grid Overhaul with Proactive, High-speed Undergrounding for Reliability, Resilience, and Security (GOPHURRS) program, which aims to strengthen and modernize America’s aging power grid through the development of cost-effective, high-speed, and safe undergrounding technologies.
With the funding, Prysmian intends to develop a hands-free power cable splicing machine operating in underground vaults, with a goal to reduce the share of splicing-caused medium-voltage network failures from 60-80% to less than 5% and dramatically improve workforce safety by reducing the time the underground cable splicing crews spend in underground vaults.
“Modernizing our nation’s power grid is essential to building a clean energy future that lowers energy costs for working Americans and strengthens our national security,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, in the press release. “With this announcement, the Department of Energy is supporting teams across the country as they develop innovative approaches to burying power infrastructure underground—increasing our resilience and bringing our aging grid into the 21st Century.”