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    Louisiana Transportation Department formulating $73M statewide EV Charging network

    Sept. 12, 2022
    According to the state’s LDOTD plan released last month, Louisiana will receive close to $73.4 million in federal funds from the Infrastructure Act and eventually another allocation from the recently passed IRA.
    Image credit Schneider Electric
    Se Charging 631f265fc825b

    The state of Louisiana’s Department of Transportation and Development (LDOTD) will seek $73 million on federal funds to build a statewide electric vehicle charging network.

    The proposed move comes after the Biden Administration passed and signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) earlier this year and the bigger Infrastructure Act last year. Together, the two pieces of legislation set aside billions for EV infrastructure development.

    According to the state’s LDOTD plan released last month, Louisiana will receive close to $73.4 million in federal funds from the Infrastructure Act, and eventually a currently unknown sum from the IRA. The state’s transportation leaders would then administer those funds in a competitive bidding process with developers to build out charging infrastructure.

    The IRA alone creates $369B to accelerate energy decarbonization projects such as EV charging.

    The state hopes to have the grant program completed by December and EV charging installations beginning in 2023. In the plan, it notes Louisiana’s vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather events such as hurricanes.

    “These impacts are projected to get much worse over the coming decades if there is not significant global action to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” it reads. “Louisiana can support greater adoption of clean vehicles by expanding the infrastructure to support this transition, including charging and fueling stations that are accessible to drivers and passengers across income levels.”

    What about your state or utility?

    Insights into Leveraging the IRA to fund Clean Energy Infrastructure in your state and service territory

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    Featuring experts from Schneider Electric and EnergySage: Register Here

    Four years ago, Louisiana Clean Fuels, a U.S. Department of Energy-designed Clean Cities coalition, first developed the state’s EV corridor plan. Earlier this year, LDOTD created an EV planning committee to develop the statewide EV infructure plan to include speed and location of direct-current (DC) fast charters.

    The state now is in the process of fine-tuning its competitive bidding process for the projects.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.