Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday announced a $1.9-billion funding opportunity aimed at reconductoring transmission lines and installing advanced technologies to expand the capacity of the existing system.
- The Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades, or SPARK, funding opportunity has an application deadline in May with project selections anticipated in August. SPARK is a rebranding of the Biden-era Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program, which has completed two funding rounds.
- Transmission advocates say grid upgrades can be the fastest route to bring additional capacity onto the grid, while also helping to address affordability concerns.
Dive Insight:
President Biden’s GRIP program launched in 2023 to provide up to $10.5 billion in competitive funding over five years, and according to a DOE fact sheet the program had announced about $7.4 billion in awards as of late 2024.
DOE did not immediately respond to questions about the status of those awards.
In its announcement, the agency said the name change “continues the mission of the GRIP Program under the SPARK funding opportunity, focusing on the rapid deployment of reconductoring and other ATTs.”
The focus on advanced technologies “will address the urgent challenges of energy affordability and load growth,” Julia Selker, executive director of the WATT Coalition, said in a statement. Electric utilities have demonstrated that ATTs can save billions and “this funding will help [them] scale up their ambitions and timelines for transmission grid modernization.”
Affordability has become a key issue for policymakers. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated the national average residential price per kilowatt hour in 2026 at 18 cents, up approximately 37% from 2020. Experts say transmission and distribution costs are a major driver of rising consumer bills.
At the same time, utilities are beginning a significant grid buildout to meet rising demand from data centers and other sources.
AI and data centers, domestic manufacturing and energy production will “require us to build new transmission infrastructure at a pace and scale we have not seen in generations,” Larry Gasteiger, executive director of WIRES, said in a statement. But the investment in grid optimization must also be paired with new construction, he added. “Optimizing yesterday’s grid will not be enough.”
DOE’s SPARK funding is available across three topic areas, to different groups of electric sector stakeholders.
Grid operators, generators, fuel suppliers, transmission and storage owners and operators and utilities can apply for up to $427 million for grid resilience in FY 2026. State and local government entities, non-profits and other organizations, higher-ed institutions and Indian tribes can apply for up to $614 million in smart grid funding. States, tribes, local governments and public utility commissions can also apply for up to $862 million in grid innovation funding.
"At a time when we need the power grid to do more, investing in advanced transmission technologies is the fastest, quickest approach,” Advanced Energy United Managing Director Dylan Reed said in a statement. The group represents companies that build and deploy advanced transmission technologies.
“We welcome the federal support for these technologies, and we encourage the Department of Energy to move swiftly to get those funds out the door,” said Reed, a former DOE senior advisor. “Industry leaders are ready to respond so we can better prepare the grid for our growing electricity needs."
