In July, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released its draft 2026 National Transmission Needs Study. The release is noteworthy because it signals significant implications for public entities and a potentially enormous new marketplace for private-sector firms.
The study describes a new reality for the country’s power infrastructure. America’s electricity system has shifted from decades of relatively stagnant demand to a period of extraordinary load growth, and significant investment will be required to maintain reliability, expand capacity and strengthen resilience.
DOE cites hyperscale artificial intelligence data centers, expanding domestic manufacturing, large industrial loads and broader electrification as major contributors. The agency concludes that there is a “pressing need” for additional transmission infrastructure to accommodate new loads, new generation interconnections and existing congestion.
DOE says the majority of transmission congestion is concentrated in only about 5 percent of operating hours. Those hours tend to coincide with high net load, cold weather, intermittent generation and significant differences between day-ahead and real-time market prices. The study identifies particularly strong potential for additional within-region transmission in the NYISO and MISO regions of the country.
DOE also signals another important point about transmission between regions. More interregional capacity can allow electricity to move from one part of the country to another when demand spikes or supply is constrained. The study cites significant potential value from stronger links between certain neighboring regions and points to the reliability and resilience benefits of more coordinated interregional transmission planning.
Electricity demand is escalating much faster than planners anticipated only a few years ago, and current forecasts show sustained escalation. Data centers are a major contributor, but expanding industrial and manufacturing demand is also driving the increase in power demand.
The latest long-term reliability assessment from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is even more striking. NERC says summer peak demand in the United States and Canada is forecast to increase by approximately 224 gigawatts over the coming decade. That projection is more than 69 percent higher than the NERC forecast for demand just one year earlier. NERC also says new data centers supporting artificial intelligence and the digital economy account for most of the projected increase.
American leaders have spent years concerned primarily about where the next megawatt of electricity would come from. Now the question is whether the country has enough transmission capacity to move existing power to where it is needed.
Private-sector firms should monitor this shift closely because MISO has already approved a $21.8 billion transmission portfolio consisting of 24 projects and 323 individual facilities. One of the main focuses of that investment is a 3,631-mile, 765-kilovolt transmission backbone across the Midwest. MISO estimates that the effort could deliver benefits equal to 1.8 to 3.5 times its cost.
These projects are already moving through development. In May, MISO selected developers for two major 765-kilovolt projects in Illinois. Earlier this year, MISO also selected developers for major competitive transmission projects in Wisconsin, including one 765-kilovolt project.
PJM Interconnection (PJM) provides another extraordinary example. In February 2026, its board approved 122 baseline reliability projects with estimated costs of approximately $11.8 billion. PJM has said the needs are being driven in part by rapidly increasing electricity demand, particularly concentrations of data centers, along with changing regional power flows and generation patterns.
PJM also approved 445 network transmission projects, valued at approximately $959 million, that are needed to connect new generation to its system. Together, these numbers illustrate the scale at which transmission planning is now occurring.
There is another bit of contractor news that should not be missed. PJM opened its 2026 competitive transmission planning window on July 20, and it will remain open until October 12. The competitive planning process gives non-incumbent transmission developers opportunities to participate in the regional expansion of the PJM bulk electric system.
Texas may be the clearest illustration of what is coming. The numbers almost sound unbelievable. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is currently tracking more than 438,000 megawatts of large-load requests, with nearly 89 percent associated with data centers. These are requests, not projects guaranteed to materialize, but the volume is so extraordinary that the Public Utility Commission of Texas approved ERCOT’s new “Batch Zero” process for qualifying large users of 75 megawatts or more. The new process allows ERCOT to evaluate large-load requests together, assess their system-wide reliability impacts and identify required transmission upgrades.
It is important to note that not all those requests will move forward. But the scale tells us something important about future infrastructure planning.
Texas also continues setting electricity-demand records. ERCOT recorded an all-time hourly peak demand of 91,089 megawatts on July 22. August has also produced a series of extremely high-demand days.
Transmission planning is therefore beginning to include much higher-voltage infrastructure, including 765-kilovolt lines that can move very large quantities of electricity over long distances.
There is also ongoing federal movement worthy of monitoring. DOE’s role extends well beyond publishing planning studies. The agency also administers financing programs, funding opportunities and technology initiatives intended to accelerate grid expansion and modernization.
In March, DOE announced approximately $1.9 billion through its Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring (SPARK) program and its Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades program for funding support. This is significant because rather than waiting years for new corridors, DOE is prioritizing projects that can expand transmission capacity more quickly through advanced conductors, grid-enhancing technologies and other upgrades, often using existing rights-of-way.
The broader Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program was authorized to provide up to $10.5 billion in competitive federal funding for grid resilience and innovation. This again signals DOE’s current emphasis on projects that can add capacity quickly and improve reliability.
Another federal mechanism worth watching is DOE’s $2.5 billion Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP). Through that program, the department can support qualifying transmission projects with loans, public-private partnerships and capacity contracts. DOE can effectively act as an anchor customer by purchasing a portion of a project’s planned transmission capacity, helping reduce financial risk and support project development.
The planned Southern Spirit Transmission project is a notable example. It calls for a 320-mile, 525-kilovolt high-voltage direct-current line connecting the ERCOT grid in Texas with electric grids in the southeastern United States for the first time. The project will provide approximately 3,000 megawatts of bidirectional transfer capacity between Texas and Mississippi through Louisiana. DOE selected the project for a capacity contract of up to $360 million.
Finally, there has been a federal policy change worth noting. On Aug. 12, DOE announced that it would not proceed with the three proposed National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETCs) that had advanced to the third phase of the federal review process. DOE said its review, including public and stakeholder input, did not provide a sufficient basis to designate the three proposed corridors.
That decision does not diminish the underlying transmission need identified by DOE. But it does underscore that federal transmission policy is evolving, with considerable emphasis currently being placed on reliability, faster capacity expansion, existing rights-of-way, advanced transmission technologies and regional planning processes.
Much of the actual transmission construction will come through regional grid operators, utilities, states, cooperatives and private transmission developers, often with DOE financing, grants, technology support or planning assistance in the background.
This shift is much larger than the market for companies that manufacture transmission towers. Every new major transmission initiative will create opportunities involving engineering, design, surveying and mapping, environmental studies, permitting, land acquisition and rights-of-way, substations, transformers, conductors and cables, civil construction, telecommunications, cybersecurity, sensors, grid-management software, advanced reconductoring, energy storage and interconnection infrastructure.
And there will be considerable work before construction begins. Planning, engineering, environmental review, permitting, public engagement, land acquisition and procurement processes can begin years before construction. Positioning opportunities will begin much sooner than in past years.
The next great American infrastructure buildout may not be a highway, airport or water system. It may be the network of transmission lines, substations and grid technologies required to deliver electricity to an economy that suddenly needs far more power.
