DOE Transmission Facilitation Program Backs Three Major Lines

Executive briefing: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on 30 October 2023 that it will execute up to $1.3 billion in capacity contracts through the Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP), backing three long-distance projects that collectively unlock roughly 3.5 gigawatts of transfer capability. DOE will purchase up to 50 percent of the capacity on the 214-mile Cross-Tie 500 kV line between Utah and Nevada, the 175-mile Southline upgrade linking New Mexico and Arizona, and the 1,200 MW Twin States Clean Energy Link high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) connection between Québec and New England. The commitments allow the agency to resell capacity once projects reach commercial operation, offering developers balance-sheet certainty to reach financial close. Governance leaders must treat the contracts as quasi-equity support that carries robust federal reporting and community-benefit conditions; project delivery teams must integrate DOE milestones into permitting, engineering, and supply-chain plans; and privacy officers must prepare to process DSARs tied to the extensive landowner, tribal, and workforce data collected to satisfy TFP covenants.

Project-specific context

Cross-Tie 500 kV. Developed by TransCanyon, a joint venture of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Pinnacle West Capital, Cross-Tie will connect Utah’s Intermountain Power corridor with Nevada’s grid, enabling 1.5 GW of bidirectional flows and enhancing resiliency for PacifiCorp, NV Energy, and neighbouring utilities. The project includes series compensation, advanced conductors, and grid-enhancing technologies to maximise transfer capability. DOE’s capacity contract de-risks long-lead equipment purchases and positions the project for construction start once environmental reviews conclude.

Southline Transmission Project. Southline Transmission, LLC will rebuild approximately 120 miles of aged 115 kV infrastructure and add a 345 kV double-circuit line between Hidalgo County, New Mexico and Pima County, Arizona. The upgrade provides about 1 GW of new transfer capability, unlocking renewable energy zones in southern New Mexico and improving reliability for Tucson Electric Power and other Southwest utilities. DOE’s backing aligns with regional resilience priorities following extreme heat and wildfire seasons.

Twin States Clean Energy Link. National Grid’s subsidiary proposes a ±320 kV HVDC underground and underwater line that connects Hydro-Québec’s hydropower resources to Vermont and New Hampshire, delivering 1.2 GW of firm capacity while maintaining a 300 MW converter tie for New England generators exporting north. The project integrates converter stations in Sherbrooke (Québec) and Monroe (New Hampshire) and coordinates with ISO-New England’s queue reforms. DOE’s support accelerates cross-border coordination and demonstrates federal willingness to back HVDC as a resilience tool.

Governance implications

Boards of utilities, transmission developers, and project sponsors must incorporate TFP obligations into enterprise risk management. Directors should approve governance charters that assign responsibility for meeting DOE reporting timelines, community-benefit commitments, and Buy America compliance. Because DOE can convert capacity contracts into equity-like oversight if performance falters, audit committees should receive quarterly dashboards covering schedule variance, cost-to-complete, interagency coordination, and stakeholder engagement metrics. Boards should also mandate independent assurance on environmental justice strategies, indigenous consultation progress, and supply-chain localisation, as these factors influence DOE’s ongoing support.

Governance structures must facilitate cross-border and multi-state coordination. For Twin States, boards should oversee agreements with Hydro-Québec, provincial regulators, and ISO-New England, ensuring risk-sharing arrangements and cybersecurity obligations align with U.S. critical infrastructure standards. Cross-Tie and Southline sponsors need governance frameworks that include neighbouring utilities and potential capacity purchasers; establishing advisory councils with representation from balancing authorities, tribes, and state regulators can build durable support and improve transparency around DOE contract terms.

Implementation roadmap

Delivery teams must integrate TFP requirements into the entire project lifecycle. Core actions include:

• Align schedules with DOE milestones. Each capacity contract sets conditions precedent tied to financing close, permitting completion, and construction start. Project controls teams should baseline schedules against these milestones, assign accountable owners, and feed status to DOE via the agency’s reporting portals. Maintain change-control processes to document rationale for any slippage and pre-negotiate contingency plans with DOE.
• Strengthen federal compliance documentation. TFP agreements require compliance with Build America, Buy America preferences, Davis–Bacon wage reporting, and Justice40 community-benefit metrics. Implementation teams must establish document repositories that capture supplier certifications, payroll data, apprenticeship participation, and community investment commitments. Incorporate third-party audits or engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor attestations to validate reported figures.
• Coordinate permitting and stakeholder engagement. For Cross-Tie and Southline, align Bureau of Land Management rights-of-way, U.S. Forest Service approvals, and state siting certificates. For Twin States, synchronise U.S. Presidential Permit requirements with Canadian federal and provincial reviews. Maintain stakeholder engagement logs that reflect DOE’s expectations for tribal consultation, landowner negotiations, and environmental mitigation plans.
• Design commercial strategies for capacity resale. DOE intends to market its contracted capacity once projects operate. Sponsors should develop capacity allocation strategies, pre-market the federal tranche to utilities or clean-energy developers, and ensure congestion revenue rights or transmission rights-of-way agreements accommodate DOE’s exit. Financial models must reflect revenue-sharing provisions and potential price floors in the capacity contracts.
• Implement risk and contingency management. Large transmission projects face supply-chain, labour, and climate risks. Delivery teams should track lead times for transformers, conductors, and HVDC components, secure alternative suppliers, and embed weather-resilience requirements (e.g., wildfire hardening, flood protections) into engineering specs. Use probabilistic cost forecasting and scenario planning to inform board reporting and DOE updates.

Project leaders should leverage DOE’s technical assistance as well. TFP participants receive access to the Grid Deployment Office’s permitting support and financing expertise; formalise engagement plans, assign single points of contact, and document action items from DOE coordination meetings.

DSAR and privacy operations

TFP-backed projects rely on extensive data collection: landowner contacts, tribal consultation records, workforce demographic information, environmental monitoring, and contractor compliance reports. Privacy and legal teams must ensure this data is catalogued, minimised, and retrievable for DSAR fulfilment. Update records of processing to capture each data stream, noting lawful bases such as consent, contractual necessity, or statutory reporting obligations. Because TFP projects involve U.S. federal agencies, contractors should expect Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests; privacy officers need coordinated responses that distinguish between FOIA and DSAR rights while protecting Critical Energy/Electric Infrastructure Information.

Implement DSAR workflows that integrate with project management tools. Tag stakeholder engagement records with unique identifiers, store consent forms for data usage, and develop scripts to export correspondence without revealing unrelated parties’ information. Workforce data used to evidence Davis–Bacon compliance must be segregated, with encryption and access controls limiting exposure of personally identifiable information. If projects span international borders, such as Twin States, ensure data-transfer agreements accommodate Québec’s privacy laws and EU-equivalent safeguards for Hydro-Québec partners.

Finally, align retention policies with federal oversight periods. DOE may review performance for years after operations commence; maintain structured archives for compliance submissions, monitoring reports, and community-benefit metrics. Document redaction standards and legal justifications when withholding sensitive data in DSAR responses, and track DSAR fulfilment metrics so governance committees can oversee privacy risk alongside construction progress. By embedding DSAR readiness into TFP compliance, project sponsors can satisfy federal transparency expectations while protecting individuals’ rights.

DOE’s first round of TFP capacity contracts signals that large-scale transmission now comes with federal partnership obligations. Organisations that pair robust governance with disciplined implementation and privacy-aware operations will be best positioned to deliver these grid-modernisation projects on time and on budget.

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