The 31 selections
Filter by topic area, by projects that cite data centers, large loads, or new load, or by Pennsylvania. The table scrolls sideways.
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| Prime applicant | Project | Topic area | Headquarters | States named in description | Federal request | Total value | Cost share | Technologies described | Data center, large-load, or new-load mention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. | Accelerated Advanced Reconductoring | 1: Grid Resilience (small utilities) | Benson, AZ | Arizona | $29.1M | $38.9M | 25% | Line replacement; substation upgrades | Not stated |
| Farmers' Electric Cooperative, Inc. of New Mexico | Eastern New Mexico Capacity Expansion for Energy Project | 1: Grid Resilience (small utilities) | Clovis, NM | Not specified | $19.5M | $26.0M | 25% | Line replacement; wood-to-steel structures; communications and controls | Demand growth cited |
| Four County Electric Membership Corporation | Line Infrastructure for Tomorrow (LIFT) | 1: Grid Resilience (small utilities) | Burgaw, NC | Not specified | $23.2M | $31.0M | 25% | Line and substation upgrades; wood-to-steel structures | Demand growth cited |
| Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, Inc. | Accelerated Reconductoring and Dynamic Line Rating, Questa-Taos 69kV Corridor | 1: Grid Resilience (small utilities) | Taos, NM | New Mexico | $38.1M | $50.8M | 25% | Reconductoring; dynamic line rating | Not stated |
| Basin Electric Power Cooperative | Unified Vision for Energy Resilience | 1: Grid Resilience (large utilities) | Bismarck, ND | Arkansas; Florida; Missouri; Mississippi; North Dakota; Wisconsin | $87.3M | $174.7M | 50% | Five corridor upgrade subprojects | Not stated |
| PPL Electric Utilities Corporation | Montour Advanced Reconductoring Project | 1: Grid Resilience (large utilities) | Allentown, PA | Not specified (Montour-Glen Brook-Susquehanna corridor) | $71.5M | $142.9M | 50% | Rebuild of existing Montour-Glen Brook-Susquehanna corridor | Not stated |
| Puget Sound Energy, Inc. | Project Pulse | 1: Grid Resilience (large utilities) | Bellevue, WA | Not specified | $40.2M | $80.4M | 50% | Existing line upgrades | Not stated |
| Rocky Mountain Power | UNLOCK (Upgrading Network Lines for Optimized Capacity and Knowledge) | 1: Grid Resilience (large utilities) | Salt Lake City, UT | Utah; Idaho; Wyoming | $87.5M | $175.1M | 50% | Line upgrades; line rating technology | Not stated |
| Tennessee Valley Authority | Rebuilding the Transmission Backbone for Energy and AI Dominance | 1: Grid Resilience (large utilities) | Knoxville, TN | Not specified | $79.8M | $159.7M | 50% | Line upgrades; line rating technology | Regional growth cited |
| 1803 Electric Cooperative, Inc. | 1803 Integrated Smart Grid Program | 2: Smart Grid | Baton Rouge, LA | Louisiana | $21.1M | $42.3M | 50% | Advanced modeling; optimization; wire replacement; monitoring and control | Load growth cited |
| Alabama Power Company | Northeast Alabama Smart Grid Deployment | 2: Smart Grid | Birmingham, AL | Alabama | $50.0M | $183.9M | 73% | Line upgrades; advanced transmission technologies | Yes: data centers named |
| American Electric Power Service Corporation | Next-Generation Optical Transport Network for Smart Grid Modernization | 2: Smart Grid | Columbus, OH | Not specified | $50.0M | $151.7M | 67% | Communications network; capacity rating system | Not stated |
| CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC | Project TALON (Transmission Area Load Optimization Node) | 2: Smart Grid | Houston, TX | Not specified | $50.0M | $176.7M | 72% | System stabilization device | Not stated |
| Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC | UNLOCK Carolinas | 2: Smart Grid | Charlotte, NC | Not specified | $50.0M | $201.4M | 75% | Advanced transmission technologies; line upgrades | Not stated |
| Duquesne Light Company | GRID-SURGE | 2: Smart Grid | Pittsburgh, PA | Not specified | $22.2M | $44.9M | 51% | Stabilization devices; line upgrades | Yes: new customer interconnection |
| Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. | ATREES: Advanced Transmission Technologies for Reliable and Efficient Energy Supply | 2: Smart Grid | Palo Alto, CA | Not specified (FirstEnergy and Salt River Project systems) | $20.9M | $41.7M | 50% | Advanced transmission technologies | Not stated |
| Entergy Mississippi, LLC | Unlocking Grid Capacity for the Southeast's Next Wave of Data Center and Industrial Growth | 2: Smart Grid | Jackson, MS | Arkansas; Louisiana; Mississippi | $13.7M | $27.4M | 50% | Line rating technology; substation upgrades; monitoring and controls | Yes: data centers named |
| Eversource Energy Service Corporation | Dynamic Rating Enhancement Advancements and Modernization | 2: Smart Grid | Hartford, CT | Connecticut; Massachusetts; New Hampshire | $47.7M | $95.5M | 50% | Line rating system; data analytics | Not stated |
| Guam Power Authority | Guam Real-Time Intelligence for Transmission (GRIT) | 2: Smart Grid | Mangilao, GU | Guam | $10.6M | $21.2M | 50% | Undergrounding; monitoring and automation; AI tools | Not stated |
| Orlando Utilities Commission | Improving Transmission Operations at OUC through Demonstration of Advanced Transmission Technologies | 2: Smart Grid | Orlando, FL | Not specified | $13.0M | $25.9M | 50% | High-temperature low-sag conductors; dynamic line rating; AI tools | Not stated |
| New England Power Company | Dynamic Rating Enhancement Advancements and Modernization | 2: Smart Grid | Waltham, MA | Not specified | $49.7M | $99.7M | 50% | Real-time rating tool; operations software; field sensors | Not stated |
| New York Power Authority | Marcy STATCOM PowerBoost | 2: Smart Grid | White Plains, NY | Not specified | $50.0M | $270.0M | 81% | Equipment replacement with advanced transmission technology | Not stated |
| NorthWestern Energy | Enhancing Inter-State Transfer Capability Between Montana and Wyoming | 2: Smart Grid | Butte, MT | Montana; Wyoming | $26.5M | $53.0M | 50% | Power flow control; dynamic line rating | Not stated |
| Pacific Power | CASCADE (Coordinated Advanced Smart-grid Control and Dynamic Enablement) | 2: Smart Grid | Portland, OR | Washington; Oregon | $50.0M | $105.5M | 53% | Advanced transmission technologies at substations | Yes: large-load interconnection |
| Pitch Aeronautics Inc. | Weather-Centric Dynamic Line Ratings and Targeted Reconductoring | 2: Smart Grid | Boise, ID | Not specified (Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois, Farmington Electric Utility System) | $37.0M | $75.6M | 51% | Weather-based line rating; targeted reconductoring | Yes: large-load interconnection |
| Powder River Energy Corporation | PRISM (PRECorp Resilient Infrastructure and Smart-grid Modernization) | 2: Smart Grid | Sundance, WY | Not specified | $14.7M | $29.8M | 51% | Line upgrades; sensors; automation; AI models | Not stated |
| Public Service Company of New Mexico | ORBIT (Operational Resilience and Balanced Intelligent Transmission) | 2: Smart Grid | Albuquerque, NM | Not specified | $29.4M | $65.8M | 55% | Line upgrades; line rating software; structure upgrades | Not stated |
| Colorado Energy Office | CO to TX Western-Eastern Intertie Modernization Initiative | 3: Grid Innovation (states and localities) | Denver, CO | Colorado; Texas; neighboring regions | $250.0M | $1,206.6M | 79% | Advanced transmission technologies; targeted line upgrades | Not stated |
| Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services | Three Corners Connector | 3: Grid Innovation (states and localities) | Oklahoma City, OK | Oklahoma; Colorado | $250.0M | $832.2M | 70% | High-capacity link between SPP and WECC | Not stated |
| Public Utilities Commission of Ohio | Ohio SPARK | 3: Grid Innovation (states and localities) | Columbus, OH | Ohio | $136.0M | $273.0M | 50% | Advanced transmission technologies; line upgrades | Yes: new load interconnection |
| State of Indiana, Office of Energy Development | Expanding Cross-Regional Transfer Capability Across the PJM-MISO Seam | 3: Grid Innovation (states and localities) | Indianapolis, IN | Not specified (PJM-MISO seam) | $174.4M | $348.8M | 50% | Reconductoring; advanced transmission technologies | Yes: large-load interconnection |
"Headquarters" is the prime applicant's location as DOE lists it, which is not always where the work happens. "Not specified" means DOE's summary did not name states. Descriptions condense DOE's project summaries. Status for all 31: selected September 2026, award expected October 2026 to January 2027. Source: DOE, Selected Applications for DE-FOA-0003580 (SPARK).
What stands out
Headquarters are not project sites
The 26 locations in DOE's list are where prime applicants are based, including Guam and California, where EPRI is headquartered even though its project runs on FirstEnergy and Salt River Project systems. Several projects cross state lines; Basin Electric's covers six states.
The data center story is narrower than the headlines
Seven of the 31 project descriptions cite data centers, large loads, or new load, and only two name data centers directly. Most describe congestion, reliability, and aging infrastructure. Large loads are driving the urgency, but much of the work serves the whole system.
States are applicants, not just regulators
Four state-led projects in Colorado, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Indiana request $810 million, 43 percent of all federal funds. One of them is led by Ohio's utility commission.
Utilities are bringing more than the minimum
Six smart grid projects request exactly $50 million in federal funds, and several put in far more of their own. Alabama Power's cost share is 73 percent; the New York Power Authority's is 81 percent.
What to watch
- Selections become signed awards between October 2026 and January 2027. Final amounts may differ from these requests.
- How each project's cost share is recovered: through federally regulated transmission rates, state-regulated retail rates, or cooperative and public power boards.
- Pennsylvania's two projects: PPL's Montour corridor rebuild and Duquesne Light's GRID-SURGE interconnection upgrades.
- How the four state-led projects coordinate work across multiple utilities and grid regions.
The question that will shape the next phase: who gets the capacity these upgrades unlock, the large loads driving demand or the customers paying for congestion today, and who decides.