GridCARE’s AI-enabled grid planning approach accelerates time-to-power in Hillsboro, Oregon
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Portland General Electric (PGE) and GridCARE successfully completed their first joint project to accelerate large load interconnections using flexibility for data centers in Hillsboro, Oregon. This will result in over 80 MW of incremental capacity available for data center load in 2026, part of a total of more than 400 MW that will be energized by 2029. The novel generative AI-forecasting methodology more efficiently uses existing grid infrastructure to meet growing electricity demand in key economic sectors.
Hillsboro is a major data center hub in the U.S., thanks to its access to a diverse energy mix, robust fiber connectivity, and temperate climate. These advantages have attracted a large number of data center projects with billions of dollars to invest. Meeting this demand requires innovative approaches that both accelerate load interconnections and safeguard affordability for all customers.
“Delivering safe, reliable electricity at the lowest possible cost are our core customer commitments,” said Larry Bekkedahl, SVP of Strategy and Advanced Energy Delivery, Portland General Electric. “By working with GridCARE, we’ve successfully implemented an AI-based approach that helps us serve fast-growing data center demand while keeping costs low and maintaining system reliability. This kind of beneficial electrification is a win for our customers, our communities, and Oregon’s economy.”
A Breakthrough Approach
To identify and validate capacity on the existing system, PGE used GridCARE’s patented DeFlex™ methodology, to apply generative AI forecasting, detailed hourly demand modeling, and grid flexibility solutions. By optimizing the use of flexible resources such as batteries and onsite generation, PGE is able to interconnect multiple data center customers years earlier than initially expected.
This breakthrough approach provides multiple benefits:
- Faster interconnection for large loads without waiting for multi-year upgrades,
- More efficient use of existing grid assets, controlling costs for all customers, and
- Increased flexibility that supports both system reliability and energy goals.
“The pace of AI and cloud growth demands new thinking about how we power the digital economy,” said Christian Belady, retired VP of Datacenter Advanced Development at Microsoft. “What PGE and GridCARE have accomplished in Hillsboro is the kind of innovation that not only enables AI and cloud expansion — it unlocks billions in new investment and accelerates returns across the entire North American ecosystem.”
Broader Impact
Nationally, electricity demand from data centers is projected to reach 6.7% to 12% of U.S. consumption by 2028, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Lab1. Utilities everywhere are grappling with how to deliver new capacity quickly while managing system costs and maintaining fair cost allocation for growth demand across customer classes.
GridCARE’s platform helps utilities validate their planning, model flexibility at scale, and relieve interconnection queues. By doing so, it supports billions in new local and regional economic investment while reinforcing the utility’s core mission of reliable and safe power delivery, while serving energy at the lowest cost possible.
This partnership strengthens Oregon’s role as a national technology hub and also positions Portland General Electric as one of the first utilities to utilize AI for large-scale load forecasting to benefit the grid and customers.
“Utilities face a once-in-a-generation opportunity to meet exponential load growth,” said Amit Narayan, CEO of GridCARE. “By combining generative AI with grid flexibility, we help utilities like PGE move at the pace the AI economy requires. This project shows what’s possible when utilities and innovators partner closely.”
About GridCARE
GridCARE solves data center developers’ most urgent bottleneck — immediate access to power — through a pioneering physics-based generative AI platform that unlocks gigawatts of near-term capacity from today’s grid. Partnering with utilities, GridCARE applies a proprietary playbook to create additional network capacity on existing transmission infrastructure without costly upgrades or multi-year delays. Founded at Stanford’s Doerr School and backed by leading investors in Energy and AI, GridCARE is working with major technology and data center companies to accelerate interconnection requests for large-load and data center projects.
About Portland General Electric
Portland General Electric (NYSE: POR) is an integrated energy company that generates, transmits and distributes electricity to nearly 950,000 customers serving an area of 1.9 million Oregonians. Since 1889, Portland General Electric (PGE) has been powering social progress, delivering safe, affordable, reliable and increasingly clean electricity while working to transform energy systems to meet evolving customer needs. PGE customers have set the standard for prioritizing clean energy with the No. 1 voluntary renewable energy program in the country. PGE was ranked the No. 1 utility in the 2024 Forrester U.S. Customer Experience Index and is committed to reducing emissions from its retail power supply by 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2040. In 2024, PGE employees, retirees and the PGE Foundation donated $5.5 million and volunteered nearly 23,000 hours to more than 480 nonprofit organizations. For more information visit www.PortlandGeneral.com/news
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SOURCE GridCARE
