DOE Unveils $1.9bn Funding for 31 Grid Upgrade Projects to Accelerate Data Center Connections

The US Department of Energy's Office of Electricity has announced a $1.9 billion funding package for 31 grid-improvement projects spanning 26 states, aimed at accelerating power delivery to data centers and other large loads seeking grid connections. The initiative comes as utilities and grid operators face mounting pressure to keep pace with surging electricity demand from AI-driven data center buildouts and broader industrial electrification.

The projects fall under the DOE's Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades (SPARK) initiative. In total, the selected projects will receive $5.25 billion, combining $1.9 billion in federal funding with $3.35 billion in recipient cost-share contributions. The DOE estimates the investments will unlock more than 23GW of additional capacity on the grid.

Prioritized projects include reconductoring with advanced conductors, Advanced Transmission Technologies (ATT) capable of increasing the usable capacity of existing assets in real time, and large-scale cross-regional transmission upgrades with coordinated planning. Collectively, the projects are expected to reconductor or rebuild more than 1,500 miles (2,412km) of transmission lines and deploy grid-enhancing technologies (GETs) across nearly 21,000 miles (33,796km) of the network.

"Today's announcement reinforces the Trump Administration's commitment to commonsense energy addition policies that lower electricity prices and strengthen our grid," said US 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."

Office of Electricity Assistant Secretary Catherine Jereza added that the selected SPARK projects "put advanced transmission technologies to work, modernizing critical infrastructure, maximizing the capacity of existing lines, and unlocking more than 20GW of additional grid capacity," noting that the 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."

Several projects carry direct implications for the data center sector. The Northeast Alabama Smart Grid Deployment, developed by Alabama Power, received $50 million in funding to upgrade transmission lines and deploy ATTs in support of regional data center growth. Entergy Mississippi is also leading a three-state, transmission-level smart-grid ATT deployment designed to unlock significant transmission system capacity across Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi for the data center and other industrial sectors.

The funding package underscores a broader policy shift toward speed-to-power as a central pillar of US energy infrastructure strategy. As data center operators increasingly cite grid interconnection timelines as a primary bottleneck for new capacity, the DOE's push to deploy advanced transmission technologies on existing rights-of-way could offer a faster path to energization than building entirely new lines. The initiative also signals growing federal recognition that grid modernization is a prerequisite for sustaining the AI and cloud computing boom, with utilities and developers alike watching closely to see how quickly the funded projects translate into measurable interconnection improvements.