America’s electric grid is a marvel of the 20th century, but it’s unprepared for the demands of the 21st. Explosive growth from AI data centers, electrified transportation, and domestic manufacturing is overwhelming a transmission system that was not designed for today’s challenges.
We are building power plants faster than we can connect them. Over 2,000 gigawatts of proposed projects are stuck in interconnection queues. Meanwhile, power demand is surging—and we’re still at risk of outages from extreme weather, cyber threats, and regional imbalances.
Today’s grid is balkanized: fragmented into regions that don’t share power efficiently. Most of our long-distance lines are aging, congested AC lines built decades ago. And because transmission planning is governed by slow, regional processes, we lack any truly national infrastructure vision.
A High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Supergrid would act like an energy interstate system—linking America’s strongest renewable resources with its biggest loads. It would:
HVDC is a proven technology. It’s already used in China, Europe, and Canada. Overhead HVDC lines can transmit more power with fewer losses than AC lines. Buried HVDC cable, while more expensive, reduces wildfire risk, faces less public opposition, and can follow existing highway or rail corridors.
We can double the capacity of our existing AC lines by replacing old conductors with advanced carbon-core materials. This reconductoring approach is cheaper and faster than building new corridors—and can unlock hundreds of gigawatts of new capacity.
And as the grid becomes more inverter-based, we must deploy grid-forming inverters (GFIs) to maintain stability. GFIs provide the frequency, voltage, and inertia traditionally supplied by spinning machines. Without them, a renewable-rich grid becomes fragile.
The grid is a national system and demands national leadership. A presidential executive order should:
President Eisenhower unified the country with the Interstate Highway System. Today, we need a 21st-century equivalent for electricity. A Supergrid isn’t a luxury—it’s a strategic imperative.