{"id":446462,"date":"2026-09-24T17:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T17:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/446462\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T17:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T17:50:11","slug":"federal-grid-funding-coming-to-texas-as-doe-centerpoint-energy-hold-joint-houston-announcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/446462\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal grid funding coming to Texas as DOE, CenterPoint Energy hold joint Houston announcement"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2013 The U.S. Department of Energy<\/a> announced Thursday, a $5.25 billion nationwide investment in grid-improvement projects \u2014 and a portion of that funding could be headed to Texas as the DOE and CenterPoint Energy will be holding a joint press release at 11:30 a.m. <\/p>\n

DOE officials will join CenterPoint Energy leadership in Houston the same day to make what both organizations described as a \u201cmajor announcement\u201d related to efforts to build a stronger, more resilient energy future for the Greater Houston region \u2014 a direct signal that Texas projects are among the 31 grid-improvement projects selected as part of DOE\u2019s SPARK initiative.<\/p>\n

What DOE announced<\/p>\n

The SPARK \u2014 Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades \u2014 initiative is funded through DOE\u2019s Office of Electricity and its Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program. The total investment includes $1.9 billion in federal funding and $3.35 billion in recipient cost-share funding across 26 states.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, the projects are expected to reconductor or rebuild more than 1,500 miles of transmission lines and deploy Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs) across nearly 21,000 miles of existing infrastructure \u2014 making more than 23 gigawatts of additional electricity capacity available.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s announcement reinforces the Trump Administration\u2019s commitment to commonsense energy addition policies that lower electricity prices and strengthen our grid,\u201d said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. \u201cThese investments will get more out of the infrastructure we already have, move more electricity across the grid, and help deliver affordable, reliable, and secure power that will fuel American prosperity for decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese selected SPARK projects put advanced transmission technologies to work, modernizing critical infrastructure, maximizing the capacity of existing lines, and unlocking more than 20 gigawatts of additional grid capacity,\u201d said OE Assistant Secretary Catherine Jereza. \u201cDOE is moving with urgency to strengthen our grid, lower costs, and ensure America has the energy infrastructure needed to power the next generation of economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

How the money works<\/p>\n

Rather than building entirely new transmission lines from scratch, SPARK focuses on reconductoring \u2014 replacing existing power lines with higher-capacity conductors \u2014 paired with other Advanced Transmission Technologies (ATTs). By using existing rights-of-way, projects eliminate congestion bottlenecks and avoid expensive greenfield construction, which DOE says will help lower consumer electricity bills.<\/p>\n

The initiative also aims to mitigate wildfire hazards, prevent blackouts, and protect against severe weather events \u2014 and bypasses the multi-decade timelines typically required to build entirely new transmission corridors.<\/p>\n

The program aligns with President Trump\u2019s Executive Order, \u201cUnleashing American Energy,\u201d which directs the expansion of grid capacity. Officials claim increased operational efficiency and lower energy prices for American families and businesses.<\/p>\n

What we\u2019re still working to find out<\/p>\n

The specific details of how much funding Texas\u2019 share of the SPARK investment \u2014 including the exact dollar amount, which transmission lines are targeted, the projected timeline and the direct impact on CenterPoint Energy customers in the Greater Houston area \u2014 are expected to be announced at the joint DOE-CenterPoint Energy press conference Thursday morning at CenterPoint\u2019s Houston headquarters, 1111 Louisiana St.<\/p>\n

Start Here, Houston\"\"<\/p>\n

More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 The U.S. Department of Energy announced Thursday, a $5.25 billion nationwide investment in grid-improvement projects \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[14402,153969,98232,153970,56,58,57,74643],"class_list":["post-446462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-centerpoint-energy","tag-doe","tag-energy-department","tag-grid-investments","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-u-s-department-of-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}