Since at least November, the White House has been considering issuing an executive order to accelerate the deployment of technologies such as dynamic line rating and advanced reconductoring that can boost the capacity of existing transmission lines, according to five people briefed on the issue.
While the exact language of the grid optimization order is unclear, those briefed said it would encourage the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to require grid operators and utilities to identify where advanced transmission technologies, or ATTs, could replace the need to build new wires. These technologies can increase the capacity of existing transmission lines by between 10% and 100% in just a couple of years, compared to the decade it can take to permit and build new ones.
That shorter timeline is especially important to data center developers facing years-long waits to hook up to the power grid, in part because transmission lines are congested in many parts of the U.S.
“It’s clear that transmission capacity…is an existential, limiting element for meeting the needs of both new AI infrastructure and new manufacturing,” Theodore Paradise, chief policy and grid strategy officer at CTC Global, which makes high-capacity advanced conductors, told Latitude Media.
Some ATTs can also be cheaper than building new lines and therefore save ratepayers money over the long-term — a key priority of the Trump administration and governors of states where energy bills are rising. Crowded transmission lines also raise customers’ bills by blocking the delivery of the lowest-cost energy. Those costs totaled $11.5 billion in 2023 alone, according to Grid Strategies, a consultancy focused on power markets and transmission.
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers didn’t respond to questions about the executive order. She said the Trump administration has already made two major grid announcements this year, including the “ratepayer protection pledge” signed by tech companies and an intervention in PJM’s capacity auction.
“Both of these actions addressed urgent challenges, and the administration continues evaluating additional steps to strengthen America’s power grid,” she said.
An unclear delay
Paradise said the grid optimization executive order has been under review for months, but there has been little explanation for the long delay.
Geopolitics, including the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, have kept top officials at White House Energy Dominance Council and the Department of Energy busy. But in recent months, they’ve also signaled their interest in ATTs.
In March, the DOE opened a $1.9 billion funding opportunity for grid modernization projects, with an emphasis on ATTs, including advanced reconductoring. The program, known as SPARK, gives grid operators, utilities, and state, local and tribal governments until May 20 to submit a full proposal; awards are expected to be announced in August.
More funding could come if Congress enacts DOE’s fiscal year 2027 budget request, which includes $750 million for a second round of SPARK. The budget noted that new transmission lines can take more than a decade to build, while reconductoring can upgrade existing lines within 18 to 36 months — “often at less than half the cost of new builds because it reuses towers, rights-of-way, and avoids new environmental clearances.”
Advanced reconductors, which are made with carbon-fiber cores that can carry more electricity than traditional steel-reinforced aluminum transmission lines, are also stronger, lighter, and less saggy, DOE said, helping mitigate wildfire risks.
Meanwhile, DOE is working with a company to model the power grid with large loads like data centers and manufacturing facilities, predict potential grid reliability risks, and suggest the quickest and cheapest way to use ATTs to facilitate interconnection to the grid, according to a person familiar with the contract.
A DOE spokesperson said the department contracts with many firms to help improve grid affordability, reliability, and security. Katie Jereza, assistant secretary of DOE’s Office of Electricity, said at a trade group meeting on April 30 that interest in the SPARK program has been “orders of magnitude more” than the funding available. Her office will be evaluating the estimated impact of the proposals, she said, and seemed to nod toward using models like those described to Latitude as part of DOE’s contract with a private company.
“We’re going to be able to map out: What [is] the state of the grid? How is the SPARK [funding opportunity] going to advance the capability of the grid?” she said at a meeting for members of WIRES, a trade group representing transmission owners. “And then we’ll try to map it out beyond that, to see what is left to do, because I know there’s going to be a lot.”
FERC’s authority
Several energy policy experts said the actions that DOE has already taken on ATTs are significant. They also thought a clear statement from the White House — particularly targeted at FERC — could encourage the commission to do more to accelerate the adoption of these technologies by utilities and RTOs.
It’s important to note that FERC, as an independent agency, is not directly bound by White House executive orders. But according to Rob Gramlich, president of Grid Strategies, those executive policy statements inevitably carry weight.
“I don’t think FERC or utilities or regional planners are doing nearly as much as they could on advanced transmission technologies, and it sure would be helpful for the White House to advocate for wider use and deployment,” said Gramlich, who added that he hasn’t spoken to White House officials about the potential EO in months.
FERC didn’t return requests for comment.
Nidhi Thakar, senior vice president for policy at the Corporate Energy Buyers Association, which represents major companies including Amazon, Google, NextEra Energy, and AES, also said that it would be a boon for FERC to examine how utilities and other transmission owners can deploy ATTs faster. “We see significant value in ATTs to cost-effectively unlock access to reliable and affordable power,” Thakar said. “Deployment has been quite slow.”
In 2024, FERC issued Order 1920, requiring utilities and grid operators to shift to 20-year transmission planning to meet future energy needs. As part of that rule, FERC mandated that transmission providers evaluate the benefits of ATTs compared to building new wires.
Larry Gasteiger, executive director of WIRES, said FERC could go further by offering financial incentives to deploy ATTs, such as “adders” that boost a utility’s profit margin for projects that use advanced technology or allowing the utility to keep a percentage of customer savings.
Right now, most utilities prefer to build new poles and wires because of the regulated profit model that rewards spending over efficiency, and ATTs can lack clear cost-recovery pathways.
Some states, RTOs and utilities are already integrating ATTs into new laws, operations, and planning. In April, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed legislation directing state energy regulators to assess whether non-wires alternatives, such as ATTs or DERs, are faster and cheaper to address grid constraints. CAISO has approved at least five advanced reconductoring projects, and PPL Electric in Pennsylvania added dynamic line rating across its most congested transmission lines by October 2022. Between 2021 and 2023, the program saved customers about $60 million in congestion costs during the winter and added 16% more transmission capacity.
Just this week, the Pennsylvania House unanimously approved a bill that would require state utilities to study the potential of ATTs when proposing to build new transmission lines or upgrade existing ones. Laws supporting grid-enhancing technologies — a narrower category of technologies within the ATT umbrella — have been passed in nine states as of last summer.
Gasteiger, Gramlich, and Thakar all acknowledged that ATTs alone can’t solve the grid capacity crunch, however. New transmission lines still need to be built in order to serve nearly 200 gigawatts of expected load growth by 2030.
But as the White House and hyperscalers prioritize speed-to-power over the next three years, ATTs are certainly an attractive option already attracting bipartisan support.
“We have the technology,” Paradise said. “The supply chain is there and ready at scale. With hyperscalers willing to invest in these upgrades to move them quickly, this is neither a technology nor a capital issue. An executive order could have significant implications for shifting how we add transmission, and therefore energy, capacity in this country.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated on May 5, 2026, to include a comment from the Department of Energy.
