New Report Details Strategic Importance of American Innovation for Secure, Efficient, Digitally Enabled Power Systems

Washington, DC – To keep up with growing electricity demand, the U.S. grid requires innovation across its components, software, and systems, according to the newest installment of the new Technology Pillar Snapshot series released today by Clean Tomorrow. This third report maps out how America can reclaim leadership through grid innovation.

This series follows last year’s release of Re-Energizing America: Reclaiming American Leadership in Energy Innovation, which set funding targets for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the next five years based on 10 technology pillars outlining areas of strategic importance for America’s energy system. The Technology Pillar Snapshots break down each of the pillars to explore why they matter, where federal policy supports them and what policymakers can do to keep the United States ahead of the game.

“The grid is the foundation of the American economy, and right now, it is not keeping pace with rising electricity demand,” said Claire C. Cody, co-author and senior innovation policy analyst at Clean Tomorrow. “The federal government and Congress both have a role to play in closing that gap, from scaling up investment in advanced grid technologies to using AI for smarter grid planning and operations. You cannot build a 21^st century economy on a 20^th century grid. Getting this right is not optional if America wants to lead.”

The report provides five key recommendations for how to accelerate innovation in the American power system and adopt new grid technologies:

• Invest in technology development and testing across jurisdictions by scaling up DOE grid programs and creating a tax credit for advanced grid investments.
• Accelerate adoption through knowledge-sharing and early deployments via the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) and through federal technical assistance.
• Support domestic grid technology manufacturing through the Defense Production Act and tax incentives.
• Leverage AI and new computing breakthroughs for grid planning, operations, and security by supporting open-source grid modeling.
• Overcome misaligned utility incentives by increasing transparency, expanding state public utility commission capacity, and creating shared savings incentives for new grid technologies.