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Energy Department picks 31 grid projects for $1.9 billion as data center demand grows

The SPARK awards, paired with $3.35 billion in recipient cost share, target reconductoring and grid-enhancing technologies that DOE says will add more than 23 gigawatts of capacity.

Motion Media News Staff

Sep 24, 2026

2 minutes

A row of steel high-voltage transmission towers crossing dry grassland under a blue sky.

Photo: ENERGY.GOV (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons (source)

The Department of Energy said Thursday, Sept. 24, that it plans to help fund 31 electric grid projects in 26 states, committing $1.9 billion in federal money toward upgrades meant to squeeze more capacity out of existing transmission lines.

Recipients will add $3.35 billion in cost share, bringing the total to $5.25 billion, according to the department's announcement. The awards come from DOE's Office of Electricity under its SPARK initiative, short for Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades, and are paid for through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program.

DOE said the selected utilities and grid operators are expected to upgrade or rebuild upward of 1,500 miles of high-voltage lines and install grid-enhancing technologies across nearly 21,000 miles. Together, the department said, the work will free up more than 23 gigawatts of additional capacity and benefit roughly 100 million people. Reconductoring swaps existing wires for higher-capacity conductors on the same towers and rights-of-way, which DOE said avoids the long timelines of building new corridors. The department also said the selections will reduce wildfire hazards, help prevent blackouts and harden the grid against severe weather, and it tied the program to President Trump's executive order titled Unleashing American Energy.

"These investments will get more out of the infrastructure we already have, move more electricity across the grid," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. Catherine Jereza, the assistant secretary who leads the Office of Electricity, put the added capacity at "more than 20 gigawatts" in her statement.

The data center angle

DatacenterDynamics reported that the program is aimed at speeding grid connections for data centers and other large electricity users. It highlighted two selections: a $50 million Alabama Power project in northeast Alabama that will upgrade lines and deploy advanced transmission technologies to support regional data center growth, and an Entergy Mississippi deployment meant to open up transmission capacity across Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi for data centers and industrial customers.

DOE also released an analysis of industry responses to its Speed to Power request for information, which it said shaped the design of the funding opportunity.

What's next

The department described the 31 projects as selections it intends to fund. DOE did not give a timeline for finalizing awards or for when the added capacity would come online.