Governor Katie Hobbs said the projects will help ensure Arizona’s energy system can withstand growing wildfire threats, extreme heat, and disruptive weather patterns. “These projects will significantly boost grid reliability, decrease power outages, reduce wildfire and extreme weather risks, and lower costs for Arizonans,” said Governor Katie Hobbs. “Investments in Arizona energy are investments in growing our economy, creating more jobs, and ensuring opportunity for all Arizonans.”
The grants were awarded through the Arizona Grid Resilience Grant Program and reach both investor-owned utilities and rural cooperatives.
Mohave, Duncan Valley, and Graham County Electric cooperatives will underground equipment, upgrade poles with more durable materials, reconductor aging lines, and reinforce cables to withstand desert weather conditions. The upgrades are expected to reduce outages for thousands of customers in some of Arizona’s most remote service territories.
APS will deploy real-time monitoring systems, expand fire-mesh protection on wooden poles, and strengthen circuits that face the highest wildfire exposure. Jacob Tetlow, APS Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, said the funding “helps us protect our energy grid from increasing wildfire risk and grow APS’s network of advanced artificial intelligence smoke-detection cameras.”
The district will modernize substation equipment, improve control technologies, and upgrade breakers to speed diagnostics and reduce localized outage duration in an area heavily dependent on reliable power for irrigation and agricultural operations.
Navopache, Trico, and Sulphur Springs Valley Electric cooperatives will upgrade fuses designed to limit ignition risk, install animal-interference protections, and use drones to pinpoint faults more quickly. “This project gives our three cooperatives the ability to tackle wildfire risk and reliability challenges together,” said Jason Bowling, CEO of Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative.
More than 1.6 million Arizonans stand to benefit from the combined investments, which aim to:
These priorities mirror national trends. Across the West, utilities are accelerating undergrounding, deploying advanced sensors, and reinforcing lines in response to wildfire liability pressures, climate-driven reliability risks, and a more distributed energy landscape. DOE’s Grid Resilience Formula Grants, authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, are pushing states toward deeper, longer-term hardening strategies.
Arizona’s vulnerability to extreme heat and escalating wildfire seasons places additional strain on legacy distribution systems. Modernization investments—pole hardening, advanced fault detection, and substation automation—are increasingly viewed as essential infrastructure, not optional upgrades. By expanding real-time monitoring and advanced analytics, utilities can shorten outage duration and mitigate ignition threats while preparing for future electrification-driven load growth.
All four projects are expected to be finished by the end of 2027. Additional awards will be issued as federal funding becomes available through DOE.
