Diana Harshbarger

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Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Affordable Innovation for the Grid Act. It is bipartisan legislation I introduced with my colleague from California, Congressman Mullin. Our energy grid is the backbone of our economy, and every hospital, factory, and family in America depends on it working reliably. Right now, the system connecting new power generation to that grid is badly backlogged. Interconnection studies that should take months are dragging on for years, and that delay is more than just a paperwork problem. It is a drag on the grid performance and on American competitiveness at a moment when energy demand is skyrocketing like never before. This bill takes a commonsense first step toward fixing that. It directs the Secretary of Energy, working with FERC and NERC, to conduct a comprehensive assessment to determine how technologies like high- performance computing and artificial intelligence can be used to enhance grid operations, finding efficiency in our existing capacity, speeding up these interconnection studies, and improving reliability with tools like predictive maintenance and digital twins. Understanding how these tools can help our bulk power system run on full power will be critical to ensuring affordable rates for the long term. As part of the study, DOE will also work to understand the technical and cybersecurity barriers for widespread adoption. Madam Speaker, we don't have a clear national picture of where this technology stands, but this bill gets us that picture with a report due to Congress within a year and substantive recommendations so policymakers have the facts on how these technologies can help reliability and performance of our grid and where the challenges lie. My bill is both bipartisan and forward looking. Most importantly, it is about making sure America leads the world as the epicenter for affordable, reliable energy. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.