Winning the Race for AI and Energy Security Requires a Modern Grid - Now

The U.S. Department of Energy’s July 2025 report on grid reliability delivers a sobering message: unless decisive action is taken, the nation’s electric grid will struggle - if not fail - to support the massive and rapidly growing electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence, data centers, and a re-industrializing economy.

The analysis, mandated by Executive Order 14262 and developed with support from NREL and PNNL, makes it clear: traditional approaches to energy planning are no longer sufficient, and the status quo is not sustainable.

A Grid at Risk

The DOE’s modeling projects a surge in electricity demand by 2030, with up to 50 GW of new load from data centers alone. At the same time, 104 GW of firm, dispatchable generation - primarily coal and natural gas - is slated for retirement. Despite the addition of 209 GW of new capacity, only 22 GW will come from firm baseload sources, leaving the grid heavily dependent on intermittent renewables and limited-duration storage.

This mismatch between retiring baseload generation and less dependable replacements results in a dramatic erosion of grid reliability. Under the DOE’s "plant closures" scenario, annual loss of load hours (LOLH) increases by more than 100 times - rising from 8.1 hours in today’s system to over 800 hours per year by 2030.

This is not a theoretical risk. As the report shows, regions such as PJM, ERCOT, and SPP already experience significant strain during extreme weather events. With AI-driven load growth, those strains will become routine, not exceptional.

Old Tools Won’t Solve New Problems

The DOE rightly criticizes outdated planning metrics such as the “1-in-10 LOLE” standard and calls for more sophisticated approaches that consider outage frequency, duration, and geographic variability. The report introduces new metrics such as Normalized Unserved Energy (NUSE) and models grid performance across 12 weather years to simulate realistic stress scenarios.

Yet one critical factor is not fully addressed: the capacity and condition of the transmission system itself. As power plants retire and demand becomes more distributed, interregional transfers and grid resilience become paramount. That means not just more generation, but a more capable, efficient, and modern transmission network.

Grid-Enhancing Technologies Must Be Front and Center

As the DOE report notes, even in the best-case scenario - where all Tier 1 projects are completed and no plants are retired - shortfalls still emerge in several regions. To bridge this growing resource adequacy gap, the DOE quantifies how much “perfect capacity” would be needed to meet a 0.002% NUSE target. PJM alone would require 10.5 GW of idealized generation or equivalent capacity.

This is where Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs) - and in particular, high-performance conductors like the ACCC® Conductor from CTC Global - play a crucial role.

Advanced Conductors like ACCC® Conductor can double the capacity of existing transmission corridors without requiring new towers or rights-of-way. They also significantly reduce electrical line losses - by 25 to 40% - which helps free up generation capacity and reduce stress on the system. By deploying these conductors during reconductoring or new line builds, utilities can cost-effectively increase grid throughput and resilience.

In short, GETs like ACCC® Conductor deliver "virtual generation" by unlocking capacity that already exists in the system.

Time for Bold Action

The DOE calls for "radical change" in how we plan and operate the grid to accommodate AI-era loads. That change must include:

• Accelerated deployment of Advanced Conductors to expand transfer capability and reduce congestion.

• Integration of Grid-Enhancing Technologies to defer costly infrastructure while improving reliability.

• Policy alignment and funding mechanisms to help utilities modernize transmission assets at scale.

CTC Global stands ready to support utilities and grid operators with proven, scalable solutions to meet these challenges. With over 185,000 kilometers of ACCC® Conductor installed in more than 65 countries, CTC Global offers unmatched expertise and technology to help the U.S. win the race for AI leadership - and safeguard national energy security.

As the DOE report concludes: “Absent intervention, it is impossible for the nation’s bulk power system to meet the AI growth requirements while maintaining a reliable power grid.” That intervention must start today - with the grid we have, and the technologies already at hand.

To learn more about how ACCC® Conductor and CTC Global’s Grid Enhancing Technologies can help your utility address growing load and reliability challenges, visit www.ctcglobal.com.