Energy Department Announces Speed to Power Investments Across 26 States to Lower Electricity Costs and Improve Grid Reliability

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) today announced its intention to help fund 31 grid-improvement projects across 26 states as part of the Department's Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades (SPARK) initiative. The projects will receive $5.25 billion in total, $1.9 billion in federal funding from DOE and $3.35 billion in recipient cost-share funding, to improve grid reliability and lower electricity costs for approximately 100 million Americans.

Project recipients are expected to reconductor or rebuild more than 1,500 miles of transmission lines and deploy Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs) across nearly 21,000 miles. Together, these efforts will make over 23 gigawatts of additional electricity capacity available.

"Today's announcement reinforces the Trump Administration's commitment to commonsense energy addition policies that lower electricity prices and strengthen our grid," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. "These investments will get more out of the infrastructure we already have, move more electricity across the grid, and help deliver affordable, reliable, and secure power that will fuel American prosperity for decades to come."

"These selected SPARK projects put advanced transmission technologies to work, modernizing critical infrastructure, maximizing the capacity of existing lines, and unlocking more than 20 gigawatts of additional grid capacity," said OE Assistant Secretary Catherine Jereza. "DOE is moving with urgency to strengthen our grid, lower costs, and ensure America has the energy infrastructure needed to power the next generation of economic growth."

In accordance with President Trump's Executive Order, Unleashing American Energy, projects selected demonstrate how reconductoring-replacing existing power lines with higher capacity conductors-paired with other Advanced Transmission Technologies (ATTs), can expand grid capacity, increase operational efficiency, lower prices for American families and businesses, and improve overall system reliability and security of the nation's electric grid. 

By maximizing existing rights-of-way, the selected projects will eliminate congestion bottlenecks and avoid expensive greenfield construction-lowering operating costs to help reduce consumer electricity bills. Additionally, SPARK selections will strengthen overall grid resilience by mitigating wildfire hazards, preventing blackouts, and protecting against severe weather events.

This strategy will bypass the multi-decade timelines typically required to build entirely new transmission corridors, delivering massive grid upgrades in record time.

SPARK is funded through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program. DOE is also releasing the Speed to Power (STP) Request for Information (RFI) Analysis, which gathered industry feedback to help inform the design of the SPARK funding opportunity.

A full list of selected projects is available here.

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