DOE Announces $5.25B Investment to Enhance Grid Reliability

America's electric companies are driving innovation and investments to strengthen the grid and reduce customer costs. Through the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades (SPARK) initiative, 31 grid improvement projects will be implemented across 26 states, including projects led by 14 EEI member companies.

The projects will receive $5.2 billion in total, with nearly $2 billion in federal funding from DOE and the rest in recipient cost-share funding. Together, these investments will expand grid capacity, accelerate infrastructure upgrades, and deploy advanced transmission technologies that will benefit approximately 100 million Americans.

DOE expects project recipients to rebuild more than 1,500 miles of transmission lines and place grid-enhancing technologies across 21,000 miles, expanding the grid's capacity by more than 23 gigawatts and reinforcing the initiative's impact.

“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.”

“We appreciate DOE's commitment to working with EEI member companies to unlock more value from today’s grid while strengthening the grid for tomorrow,” said EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney. “As electricity demand continues to grow, investments in grid infrastructure and innovative technologies are essential to keeping electricity reliable and as affordable as possible for customers.”

Several EEI member companies that received funding explained how these projects are delivering value to their customers.

• “A strong transmission system is essential to delivering the reliable power our customers depend on and to support continued economic growth across the communities we serve,” said Bill Fehrman, American Electric Power Chairman, President, and CEO. “We appreciate the U.S. DOE’s support for these transmission investments, which will allow us to use advanced technologies to improve reliability and make better use of existing infrastructure, delivering long-term value for our customers.”
  
• “Strengthening the grid requires targeted investments that improve reliability and help ensure our system is ready to meet customers’ evolving energy needs in a cost-effective manner,” said Scott Batson, Duke Energy Executive Vice President and Chief Power Grid Officer. “I thank the Trump administration and DOE for selecting Duke Energy. By making smarter use of existing infrastructure, we're able to bring customer benefits to our communities faster, including improved outage response, a more flexible electric grid, and greater readiness to meet the region's growing energy needs.”
  
• “This Department of Energy funding will help PPL Electric modernize critical infrastructure, strengthen reliability and resilience and deploy advanced technologies that will help inform future grid investments,” said PPL Electric Utilities President Christine Martin. “By bringing these federal resources into Pennsylvania, we can maximize the impact of every infrastructure dollar invested while helping minimize costs for customers and delivering long-term value for the communities we serve.”
  
• “Our mission is to build the most resilient coastal grid in the nation for the 2.9 million customers we proudly serve in the Greater Houston area, and we’re grateful to the DOE for this vital investment in both Houston’s and Texas’s energy infrastructure,” said Jason Ryan, CenterPoint Energy Executive Vice President, Regulatory Services & Government Affairs. “This selection is historic for our region, and it will directly fund industry-leading technology improvements that are expected to strengthen resiliency, reliability, and meet the growing energy needs of our region.”
  
• “[This] project will help deliver a more reliable, resilient, and affordable electric system for our customers by giving us better information to make smarter operating and planning decisions,” said Andrew Schneller, National Grid Vice President of Engineering & Network Strategy. “By getting more value from the infrastructure we already have, we can strengthen the grid while helping keep costs as affordable as possible.”
  
• “We greatly appreciate the Department of Energy's investment in innovative solutions that can strengthen the New England electric grid and deliver significant reliability and affordability benefits to our customers,” said Bill Quinlan, Eversource President of Transmission. “As demand for electricity continues to grow, the DREAM initiative will help us maximize the capability of our existing transmission system — which, importantly, will also help keep costs as low as possible for customers. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with DOE and Dartmouth Engineering to demonstrate how advanced, state-of-the-art grid technologies can help meet the region's evolving energy needs with an ever-present focus on affordability for our customers.”
  
• “Installing this new technology is intended to help us deliver more reliable, affordable electricity to customers by reducing congestion, improving system readiness for large loads, and potentially avoiding capital costs for other transmission upgrades,” said John Hudson, Entergy Chief External Affairs Office. “With this federal funding, we’ll be able to deploy advanced dynamic line rating technology across more than 1,000 miles of transmission lines across Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, boosting the amount of power we can safely move using the infrastructure we already have. We appreciate the Department of Energy’s partnership and its commitment to strengthening energy resilience in our region. This is another example of Entergy doing all we can to modernize the electric grid while reducing the financial impacts of these large projects on our customers and communities.”

DOE moved quickly to review applications in order to help America’s electric companies strengthen grid reliability for their customers.

“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 DOE Office of Electricity 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.”

The SPARK program supports three categories of projects focused on strengthening and modernizing the electric grid.

Category 1: Grid Resilience

DOE’s investment supports upgrades to existing transmission infrastructure that increase the amount of electricity the grid can carry while improving reliability and resilience for customers and communities. EEI members selected to support these projects include:

• PPL
• Puget Sound Energy
• Rocky Mountain Power

Category 2: Smart Grid

DOE’s investment in this category supports deployment of advanced technologies, monitoring systems, software, and controls that enable utilities and grid operators to manage electricity flows better and maximize the efficiency of existing infrastructure. EEI members selected to support these projects include:

• Alabama Power
• American Electric Power
• CenterPoint Energy
• Duke Energy Carolinas
• Duquesne Light Company
• Entergy Mississippi
• Eversource Energy
• National Grid
• NorthWestern Energy
• Pacific Power
• PNM

Category 3: Grid Innovation Program

The investment also supports large-scale, collaborative projects that address regional transmission needs. This includes efforts to expand the grid's ability to serve growing electricity demand and connect new energy resources.

As electricity demand continues to grow across the economy, these investments will help EEI member companies maximize the performance of the existing transmission system. DOE funding will help offset a portion of project costs, accelerating deployment of grid-enhancing technologies and infrastructure upgrades that help keep electricity reliable and as affordable as possible for customers.

To learn more about these programs, visit the Department of Energy website.