Project deploys AI-driven grid optimization to reduce the cost and time required to connect large-load customers

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.: GridCARE, the company accelerating time-to-power for artificial intelligence, and National Grid (NYSE: NGG) today announced a collaboration that aims to more quickly connect large-load customers to the power grid while reducing costs for new infrastructure.

Utilities are seeing a surge in requests for new large loads, thanks to the reshoring of manufacturing and the global rise of AI infrastructure. Data center developers, for instance, often face delays of three to seven years to secure power through traditional interconnection processes. At the same time, significant grid capability often remains underutilized. Research from Stanford University indicates grid infrastructure operates at roughly one-third utilization under normal conditions. The GridCARE EnergizeTM platform uses advanced AI models, grid simulations, and real-time system intelligence to identify underused capacity. The approach can reduce time-to-energization from years to as little as 6-12 months, protecting grid reliability and customer rates.

In this first collaboration, National Grid and GridCARE will focus on identifying and unlocking capacity in New York for large-load customers.

Unlocking Capacity Already Built

GridCARE’s platform uses Generative AI models to evaluate quadrillions of grid operating scenarios - precisely identifying the rare conditions and hours when the grid might become constrained. The platform then identifies operational strategies, including flexibility solutions such as batteries and distributed energy assets, to overcome those constraints, safely delivering additional capacity from infrastructure already in place.

“We use AI to deploy AI faster by turning hidden grid capacity into a fast lane, compressing years into months, and solving the defining constraint on AI – power – to enable an era of abundance.”

- Amit Narayan, CEO and Founder, GridCARE

Accelerating Growth While Protecting Affordability

Electric grids are predominantly fixed-cost networks. Improving asset utilization spreads those fixed costs across a broader load base, strengthening system economics for all customers. By accelerating large-load development onto infrastructure already built and paid for, utilities can increase transmission utilization, broaden the cost base supporting the grid, create headroom for continued modernization, and avoid or defer unnecessary capital expenditures.

GridCARE’s model enables faster capacity delivery while maintaining rate stability – and in some cases, reducing long-term rate pressure through improved efficiency.

“The fastest and least-expensive way to add capacity to the grid is to leverage megawatts already hidden there. By responsibly unlocking latent capacity through modern, physics-based AI tools, we can support economic growth, strengthen reliability, and protect affordability for the customers and communities we serve.”

- Steve Smith, President, National Grid Partners and Group Chief Strategy Officer, National Grid

New AI capacity represents potentially transformational economic impact. According to JLL’s 2026 Global Data Center Outlook, hyperscale development typically requires approximately $10 million per megawatt in infrastructure investment, supporting thousands of jobs, expanded supply chains, and significant new tax revenues. At the same time, utilities and regulators are mindful of the need to ensure infrastructure costs are justifiable and minimized. This first project aims to demonstrate that modern, physics-based AI can simultaneously accelerate economic expansion and reinforce affordability.

Narayan added, “We are at a critical juncture. Real-time intelligence on our energy assets lets us make strategic investments with confidence, deliver power now, and build the infrastructure the future demands – all at once.”

About GridCARE

GridCARE delivers Speed-to-Power for AI data centers. Our physics-based AI platform identifies and activates near-term capacity on today’s grid, enabling data centers to energize faster while helping utilities grow without compromising reliability or affordability.

Founded at Stanford’s Doerr School and backed by leading AI and energy investors, GridCARE strengthens U.S. AI competitiveness by accelerating access to power at scale. To date, our platform has unlocked more than $10 billion in economic value for data center developers by bringing hundreds of megawatts online years ahead of schedule.

For more information, visit our website and LinkedIn.

About National Grid

National Grid (NYSE: NGG) delivers electricity and natural gas to more than 20 million people across New York and Massachusetts. We’re committed to meeting our customers’ energy needs and supporting economic growth across the regions we serve-providing safe, reliable energy today and building the resilient networks of the future. National Grid Partners, our venture capital and corporate innovation arm, invests in and collaborates with technology companies that are accelerating the future of energy and helping new technologies reach critical scale faster.

For more information, please visit our website, follow us on X, watch us on YouTube, like us on Facebook and find us on Instagram.

Fonte: Business Wire