US DOE Backs 31 Grid Projects Across 26 States With USD 5.25 Billion
The US Department of Energy will support 31 power grid projects in 26 states with USD 5.25 billion in combined federal and recipient funding.
The US Department of Energy has announced support for 31 power grid improvement projects spread across 26 states, with combined federal and recipient funding of USD 5.25 billion.
Of the total, USD 1.9 billion will come from the department as federal funding, while recipients will contribute USD 3.35 billion in cost-share funding. The department said the projects are intended to strengthen grid reliability and bring down electricity costs for close to 100 million Americans.
Recipients are expected to reconductor or rebuild more than 1,500 miles of transmission lines and deploy Grid-Enhancing Technologies across nearly 21,000 miles. The upgrades are projected to unlock more than 23 gigawatts of additional electricity capacity.
US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said the announcement reinforces the administration's commitment to energy addition policies that lower electricity prices and strengthen the grid. He said the investments would extract more from existing infrastructure, move more electricity across the grid and help deliver affordable, reliable and secure power.
The selected projects will seek to maximise the use of existing rights-of-way to ease grid congestion and avoid costly greenfield construction, which the department said would help lower operating costs and reduce consumer electricity bills.
The SPARK projects are also expected to improve grid resilience by reducing wildfire risks, preventing blackouts and strengthening protection against severe weather events. The department said the approach would bypass the multi-decade timelines typically required to build entirely new transmission corridors, delivering major grid upgrades in record time.
SPARK is funded through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships programme. The department is also releasing the Speed to Power Request for Information Analysis, which gathered industry feedback to help shape the design of the SPARK funding opportunity.
OE Assistant Secretary Catherine Jereza said the selected projects put advanced transmission technologies to work, modernising critical infrastructure, maximising the capacity of existing lines and unlocking more than 20 gigawatts of additional grid capacity.