DOE puts $1.9bn into 31 projects that free 23 GW on existing lines
Victoria Shinder1 min readThe US Department of Energy will offer $1.9 billion to 31 grid-improvement projects expected to add 23 GW of capacity to the transmission system, it said on 24 September 2026. Sponsors are expected to reconductor or rebuild more than 1,500 miles of transmission line and deploy grid-enhancing technologies across nearly 21,000 miles.
The money comes from the Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades programme, known as SPARK, funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Catherine Jereza, Assistant Secretary at DOE's Office of Electricity, said the selected projects modernise critical infrastructure, maximise the capacity of existing lines and unlock more than 20 GW of additional grid capacity. DOE says the projects will come online in what it calls record time.
What it means
Twenty-three gigawatts without new corridors is the whole argument for this class of work. A new transmission line is a decade of siting, easements and litigation; advanced conductors and dynamic line rating buy capacity on rights of way that already exist and already have public acceptance.
The ratio is the interesting figure: 1,500 miles physically rebuilt against nearly 21,000 miles getting sensors and software. Most of this programme is not construction at all, it is measurement - lines have long been rated on conservative static assumptions, and knowing the actual conductor temperature releases headroom that was always there. That is cheap capacity, and it is also capacity that depends on the instrumentation continuing to work.