On October 3, 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office (GDO) announced an investment of $1.5 billion in four transmission projects through the Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP), an innovative revolving fund program that helps overcome the financial hurdles facing transmission development, that will improve grid reliability and resilience, relieve costly transmission congestion, and open access to affordable energy to millions of Americans across the country.
The capacity contract selections join three projects selected through the first round of TFP.
Capacity Contract Selections
The Aroostook Renewable Project will construct a new substation in Haynesville, Maine and a 111-mile, 345 kV Alternating Current transmission line with a capacity of 1,200 MW to connect the new substation to the Independent System Operator-New England (ISO-NE) system at an existing substation in Pittsfield, Maine. The project will also include a new 38.5-mile, 345 kV overhead line to connect the Pittsfield substation to existing Coopers Mills substation in Windsor, Maine.
The project will provide New England with access to low-cost, high quality renewable energy generated in northern Maine. There are currently three mature wind projects in northern Maine and potential for additional large-scale wind and solar development in the region.
- Project: Aroostook Renewable Project
- Applicant/Selectee: Avangrid
- Type of Financial Assistance: Capacity Contract
- Project size: 1,200 MW, 111 miles
- Planned project location: Maine
- Award amount: Up to $425 million
Southern Spirit Transmission will construct a new 320-mile, 525 kV High-Voltage Direct-Current (HVDC) line connecting the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid with electric grids in the Southeastern United States for the first time. The line will provide 3,000 MW of bidirectional capacity between Rusk County, Texas to Choctaw County, Mississippi.
Interconnecting Texas to the Southeast will expand access to diverse resources and improve grid resilience in high demand and extreme weather events, benefiting ratepayers in both regions.
- Project: Southern Spirit Transmission
- Applicant/Selectee: Southern Spirit Transmission, LLC
- Type of Financial Assistance: Capacity Contract
- Project size: 3,000 MW, 320 miles
- Planned project location: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi
- Award amount: Up to $360 million
Cimarron Link is a 400-mile High-Voltage Direct-Current (HVDC) transmission line running from Texas County, Oklahoma to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The line will transmit 1,900 MW of firm, point-to-point capacity.
Cimarron Link will deliver rich, consistent, and high-quality wind and solar energy from the Oklahoma panhandle eastward to heavily congested and rapidly growing load centers in eastern Oklahoma and elsewhere in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP).
- Project: Cimarron Link
- Applicant/Selectee: Cimarron Link Transmission, LLC
- Type of Financial Assistance: Capacity Contract
- Project size: 1,900 MW, 400 miles
- Planned project location: Oklahoma
- Award amount: Up to $306 million
Southline will construct a new 108-mile, 345 kV High Voltage Alternating Current line that will deliver 1,000 MW of new, bidirectional capacity between Hidalgo County, New Mexico and Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Southline Phase 2 will add much-needed transmission capacity to support electricity delivery across the desert southwest region, which is grappling with extensive load growth and an increase in resource demand driven by residential, commercial, and industrial activity.
- Project: Southline Phase 2
- Applicant/Selectee: Southline Transmission, LLC
- Type of Financial Assistance: Capacity Contract
- Project size: 1,000 MW, 108 miles
- Planned project location: New Mexico
- Award amount: Up to $352 million
Status: $331,000,000 awarded
Southwest Intertie Project – North (SWIP-North) is 285-mile, ~2,000 MW transmission line from Twin Falls, Idaho to Ely, Nevada. The project will bolster resource adequacy in the West by bringing wind energy from Idaho to Southern Nevada and to customers in California, and providing a pathway for solar resources to meet evolving reliability needs in the Pacific Northwest. With construction anticipated to start in 2025, the proposed line will bring more than 2,000 MW of needed transmission capacity to the region and create over 300 new, high quality and union construction jobs. The SWIP-North line will also help increase grid resilience during wildfires or other system disruptions by providing an alternate route to deliver power supplies during such events. This project will also upgrade a key substation in Nevada, unlocking an additional 1,000 MW of capacity along the existing One Nevada Line, a major transmission corridor in Southern Nevada.
Status: $226,336,500 awarded
Cross-Tie is a proposed 214-mile 1500 MW transmission line connecting existing transmission systems in Utah and Nevada to increase transmission capacity, improve grid reliability and resilience, relieve congestion on other key transmission lines, and expand access to low-cost renewable energy across the region. The bidirectional nature of Cross-Tie will increase transfer capabilities in the West, unlocking increased access to renewable energy resources in the region. Construction is expected to start in Q1 of calendar year 2025. The National Transmission Needs Study (Needs Study) estimates that by 2030 the Mountain region will need nearly 2,300 GW-mi of new transmission to unlock the power sector emissions savings enabled by Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Cross-Tie will contribute 14% to this regional need.
Status: $477,000,000 awarded
Southline is a proposed 175-mile, 748 MW transmission line from Hidalgo County, NM to Pima County, AZ that will help unlock renewable energy development in southern New Mexico and deliver clean energy to growing markets in Arizona that currently rely on fossil fuel generation. The project, which is the first phase of a longer line, will make smart use of existing transmission rights of way along parts of its route, upgrading aging transmission facilities that are the source of congestion and constraints in the region. Construction is expected to start in Q1 of calendar year 2025. The Needs Study estimates that by 2030 the Southwest will need 935 GW-mi of new transmission to unlock the power sector emissions savings enabled by IRA. The Southline project will contribute 14% to this regional need.
Twin States Clean Energy Link withdrew from TFP contract negotiations in March 2024.