Montana power grid grant money 2026 opens for a second round
Montana power grid grant money 2026 is now open for its second round of applications. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality runs the Energy Infrastructure Resilience Grant Program, which pays electric utilities, cooperatives and city governments to upgrade power lines and other grid equipment so the power stays on through storms and wildfires. The department opened the current funding opportunity on August 12, 2026, with about 10.34 million dollars available. A draft application was due September 17, 2026, the final application period opened October 22, 2026, and the final application itself is due November 12, 2026.
What Montana utilities have to put up before they get the money
The grant does not cover the whole cost of a project. A large utility applying for the money must match every federal dollar with a dollar of its own, while a small utility only has to add 33 cents for every dollar. Every applicant, large or small, also has to add a state cost share of 15.5%. That means a utility already needs money set aside before it can even spend a grant. Eligible applicants are electric grid operators, electricity storage operators, electricity generators, transmission owners or operators, distribution providers and fuel suppliers, according to the state agency program page.
The Fort Peck and Hamilton bars are individual grants already awarded in the first round. The available bar is the total open for new applications in the second round, not a comparable award.
Show the numbers
| Fort Peck line rebuild | 3 |
| Hamilton area undergrounding | 2.9 |
| Available, new round | 10.34 |
What the first round of money already built
The first round already shows what this money buys. Montana Dakota Utilities used a 3 million dollar grant to rebuild a 7.9 mile section of transmission line on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation near Poplar, replacing a 70 year old, 60 kilovolt line, a kilovolt measuring the voltage of the line, with a new 115 kilovolt double circuit line, 2 circuits carried on the same poles for backup.
DEQ is proud to champion these projects to ensure reliable energy supply for the rural communities these projects serve.
Sonja Nowakowski, Director of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Source 1.
Ravalli Electric Cooperative used a 2.9 million dollar grant to bury 21.3 miles of overhead power line in high wildfire risk areas near Hamilton and add monitoring equipment, serving 538 member consumers on that stretch of the grid. That funding round covered 10 grid resilience projects run by 7 recipients across the state, according to the state agency press release. NorthWestern Energy, Northern Lights, Marias River Electric Cooperative, McCone Electric Cooperative and the City of Troy also received grants in that same round.
These improvements will provide safer, more resilient electric service for the rural communities and 538 member consumers served by this portion of the grid.
Kyle Kearns, Chief Operating Officer of Ravalli Electric Cooperative. Source 1.
Where the money comes from nationally
The grants trace back to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a federal law that created a formula program, one that divides money among states automatically rather than through a nationwide competition, run by the United States Department of Energy. That program provides up to 2.5 billion dollars nationally over 5 years to states, tribal nations and territories, and the federal agency says it has already awarded nearly 1.3 billion dollars of that money.
The awarded bar is the amount the federal program has already committed nationally. The authorized bar is the total available over the whole 5 year program, most of which is not yet awarded.
Show the numbers
| Awarded nationally | 1.3 |
| Authorized, 5 year total | 2.5 |
Montana utilities, cooperatives and city governments that want a share of the new 10.34 million dollars have until November 12, 2026 to file a final application.