Southwest Power Pool (SPP) has announced a strategic partnership with Hitachi, Ltd. and NVIDIA to deploy an advanced AI-powered solution aimed at solving critical power grid interconnection challenges in the central United States.

The initiative targets an 80% reduction in generator interconnection (GI) analysis times, a bottleneck in integrating new energy sources into the grid. By leveraging industrial AI and accelerated computing, the project will help address mounting electricity demand, largely driven by data centers, manufacturing, and electrification.

The solution will combine Hitachi’s AI-based simulation algorithms, predictive analytics, and its Hitachi iQ computing platform with NVIDIA’s accelerated hardware and software stack. SPP will lead the implementation, aligning efforts with regulatory and industry standards.

This collaboration comes as the U.S. faces a growing gap between electricity demand and grid capacity. Without intervention, SPP’s 14-state region could see capacity margins fall from 24% in 2020 to just 5% by 2029.

Phase one of the project is expected to be completed by winter 2025/26, with key milestones including AI-augmented simulation modeling and improved data management.