He added that New Jersey officials will work closely with the Obama administration over the next few months to make NJ TransitGrid “a reality.”

According to Moniz, the partnership aligns with President Obama’s so-called Climate Action Plan, which was announced in June. The president’s plan calls for making the nation’s infrastructure more robust as well as resilient to natural disasters exacerbated or brought on by the effects of climate change. Moniz added that the partnership established between the DOE and New Jersey could serve as "a model for developing a 21st-century grid in a way that helps our economy but also helps our resiliency."

Sandia National Laboratories will use a quantitative risk-based assessment tool, called the "energy surety design methodology" (ESDM), that allows communities to evaluate their regional energy needs, identify advanced solutions to improve the reliability and resiliency of their electric grids, and understand the most cost-effective strategies for system upgrades. At the core of this methodology is the use of advanced smart-grid technologies and the integration of distributed energy resources, such as backup generators, wind generation, photovoltaics and storage.

A few hours after making the announcement at New Jersey Transit headquarters in Secaucus, N.J., Moniz reiterated Obama’s commitment to developing strategies and policies to adapt to and mitigate the anticipated effects of climate change.