Gov. Janet Mills announced Tuesday that $6.6 million in grants have been awarded to six Maine communities and regions for electrical grid resilience projects.

The funds come as communities in Maine continue to recover and rebuild from storm damage inflicted this past winter and spring, officials said.

According to the Governor’s Energy Office, the storms caused millions of dollars in damage and left thousands without power.

“We know that bad storms, like those we experienced last winter, are only going become more frequent and more severe because of climate change, likely increasing the number and duration of power outages – unless we act now,” Mills said.

Grant recipients include communities in the Sebago region, Indian Island, Van Buren, the Madison area, Vinalhaven and North Haven.

The Calais region will get $2 million to replace 10 miles of old lines and transformers.

Other areas will improve power lines, replace underwater cables and install other measures to protect against outages.

The Governor’s Energy Office anticipates receiving an additional $4.4 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for additional resilience projects over the next two years.

“These grid resilience grants will fund strategic investments across Maine in important energy infrastructure, leading to increased reliability and better preparing our state for the impacts of climate change,” said Dan Burgess, director of Governor’s Energy Office. “Upgrades to the grid will not only mitigate storm impacts but will also modernize the state’s aging electrical infrastructure to deliver more reliable, efficient, and cost-effective clean electricity to Maine homes and businesses.”