Ameren and Pitch Aeronautics Win DOE Selection for Grid Upgrades

Ameren announced on October 28, 2026 that the U.S. Department of Energy selected Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois and Pitch Aeronautics Inc. to deliver grid upgrades on existing power lines in Missouri and Illinois, a federally funded project under the department’s Speed to Power initiative that combines weather-based line-rating technology with targeted conductor upgrades on two high-voltage line segments.

Ameren characterized the project as one that could help meet customers’ growing electricity demand in Missouri and Illinois while improving reliability and easing the pressure of rising energy costs. The work sits within a Department of Energy portfolio providing $1.9 billion in federal funding to 31 grid-improvement projects across 26 states.

Weather-Based Ratings and Two Upgraded Line Segments

Pitch Aeronautics will deploy line-mounted sensors to key parts of Ameren’s transmission network and apply its software across Ameren’s entire transmission system. Together, the technologies use real-time and predicted weather conditions to calculate how much energy each line can safely carry. According to Ameren, this dynamic data allows its grid operators to safely move a higher volume of electricity over existing lines when weather conditions allow, such as during mild or windy days.

Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois will also upgrade two high-voltage line segments with new, advanced, high-performance conductors. Ameren said installing the new conductors will more than double how much power those line segments can carry in all weather conditions, year-round.

The company said the upgrades are expected to reduce congestion on transmission lines, which can be costly and can impact reliability, and to make it easier for new sources of power generation to connect to the energy grid. Ameren described congestion as occurring when transmission capacity is insufficient to transport lower-cost electricity to customers, leaving grid operators to supply energy from local power plants that can be more expensive depending on the situation. A key part of the project, the company said, is capturing the existing system baseline and the performance impact of the technology, with project results reported to the Department of Energy.

“We expect this project will help us optimize the performance of our existing transmission system and deliver greater value to our customers,” said Shawn Schukar, chairman and president of Ameren Transmission. “But grid enhancing technologies like these cannot entirely replace the need for new transmission infrastructure.” Schukar said meeting the region’s long-term energy needs will require both maximizing the capacity of existing transmission lines and building new transmission projects that expand the grid.

Ian Gibson, COO and co-founder of Pitch Aeronautics, said that, working alongside Ameren, the partners will deploy weather-based line ratings to enhance the capabilities of more than 8,000 miles of transmission lines in Missouri and Illinois. “SPARK is game-changing,” Gibson said, adding that the deployment should unlock more capacity across the network, improve reliability and increase access to lower-cost sources of electricity across the region for customers.

The SPARK Portfolio and Pitch Aeronautics’ Listed Award

The Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity said in a September 24, 2026 announcement that it intended to help fund 31 grid-improvement projects across 26 states under the initiative, formally named Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades. The projects carry $5.25 billion in total value, consisting of $1.9 billion in federal funding and $3.35 billion in recipient cost-share funding, to improve grid reliability and lower electricity costs for approximately 100 million Americans, the department said. Recipients are expected to reconductor or rebuild more than 1,500 miles of transmission lines and deploy grid-enhancing technologies across nearly 21,000 miles, together making more than 23 gigawatts of additional electricity capacity available, according to the department.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the investments would get more out of existing infrastructure, move more electricity across the grid and help deliver affordable, reliable and secure power. Catherine Jereza, the Office of Electricity’s assistant secretary, said the selected projects put advanced transmission technologies to work modernizing critical infrastructure and maximizing the capacity of existing lines. The department said the selections were made in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order, Unleashing American Energy, and that SPARK is funded through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program.

The funding notice, DE-FOA-0003580, was issued on February 25, 2026, with concept papers due March 18, 2026 and full applications due May 5, 2026, according to the department’s SPARK program page. The department’s notification of selections came in September 2026, and it lists an expected award date of October 2026 through January 2027. The Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program, funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, was authorized to provide up to $10.5 billion in competitive funding over five years. The department said it prioritized projects that could be implemented quickly to deliver durable physical upgrades and dynamic operation gains, including reconductoring with advanced conductors, technologies that increase the usable capacity of existing assets in real time, and large-scale, cross-regional transmission upgrades using existing rights of way.

The department’s selected-applications document lists Pitch Aeronautics as the prime applicant for project 3580-1765, “Weather-Centric Dynamic Line Ratings and Targeted Reconductoring for Accelerated Transmission Capacity,” based in Boise, Idaho, with $37,034,911 in federal funds requested and a total project value of $75,565,842. The document’s narrative describes deploying weather-based transmission line rating software at Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois and Farmington Electric Utility System, along with targeted transmission wire upgrades, efforts the document says will enable increased transmission line capacity and new large-load and power-generation interconnections and can reduce transmission system congestion costs. The department cautions that the summarized project details are derived from application materials and are subject to change pending finalization of formal financial assistance agreements.

Pitch Aeronautics disclosed the Farmington Electric Utility System portion of the project on October 8, 2026, saying it will equip the municipal utility with its WireWeather dynamic line rating software, which forecasts weather along each transmission line and calculates how much power the line can safely carry, and will use its Astria drone to install WireWarrior weather sensors directly on key lines while they remain in service. The utility, owned and operated by the City of Farmington, will also upgrade key high-voltage transmission lines, work Pitch said will nearly double the lines’ capacity. Farmington Electric Utility System serves approximately 46,000 metered customers across a 1,718-square-mile area covering much of San Juan County and a small portion of Rio Arriba County in northwest New Mexico. Hank Adair, the utility’s electric utility director, said the project combines targeted transmission upgrades with dynamic line rating technology to better understand and utilize available transmission capacity based on changing weather conditions.