Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) has been awarded a $15.4-million grant for a middle-mile fiber infrastructure project that will enhance electric grid reliability and resilience. The grant comes from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program and was made available through the signing of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

BGE will provide a 50.1-percent funding match on the grant, meaning $30.8 million will be invested over the next 4 years in nearly 70 miles of underground middle-mile fiber infrastructure.

"With our extensive expertise in delivering large-scale underground infrastructure projects on time and on budget, as well as experience in building, maintaining, and operating our existing fiber communications network, BGE is uniquely positioned to support the objectives of this grant program and be an ideal middle-mile partner," said Derrick Dickens, BGE chief operating officer and senior vice president. "High-speed internet is critical to the well-being and livelihoods of our communities. It must be reliable, affordable, and accessible to everyone. This project is a win-win opportunity to both improve grid reliability and resilience and bring broadband investments to areas that have suffered from the broadband digital divide.”

The infrastructure will help residents by encouraging affordable, high-speed broadband deployment to currently unserved or underserved areas and improving affordability in already-served markets in Maryland. The project will also bolster national security and other vital community anchor institutional interests—that can connect to the middle-mile network—by promoting broadband connection resiliency and redundancy, preventing single points of failure.

BGE also plans to connect 20 electric substations to the underground fiber infrastructure to enhance grid reliability, support advanced monitoring capabilities and automation, increase cybersecurity, and enable grid interconnection of more renewable energy resources.

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