Digital Power Network Submits Comprehensive Filing to DOE’s “Speed to Power” Initiative
Calls for Modernized Market Design, Flexible-Load Integration, and Federal Support to Accelerate U.S. Energy and Compute Infrastructure
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, D.C. — The Digital Power Network (DPN), the largest coalition of Bitcoin miners and digital-infrastructure developers in the United States, today submitted extensive comments to the Department of Energy (DOE) in response to its Speed to Power Initiative (FR Doc. 2025-18058). Representing more than 85% of the domestic public Bitcoin mining hash rate, DPN’s filing outlines a comprehensive federal strategy to accelerate new generation, transmission, and critical digital-infrastructure development amid unprecedented nationwide load growth.
“As the U.S. confronts record electricity demand, data-center expansion, and multi-year permitting delays, flexible digital infrastructure has become a strategic asset,” said Hailey Miller, Director of Government Relations & Public Policy at the Digital Power Network. “DOE’s Speed to Power Initiative is essential, and our comments emphasize how flexible loads, including Bitcoin mining, can meaningfully reduce congestion, de-risk new generation, strengthen the grid, and unlock high-value economic development.”
DPN’s filing highlights several key themes:
1. Urgent Need to Accelerate Transmission & Generation Buildout
DPN underscores that major regions, including ERCOT, PJM, MISO, and the Southeast, face historic load growth driven by AI, semiconductor manufacturing, electrification, and data-center expansion. Yet transmission construction remains far below required levels, with only 322 miles built in 2024 despite DOE identifying a need for at least 5,000 miles annually.
DPN calls for:
Expedited permitting and NEPA reforms
DOE-supported National Electric Transmission Corridors
Modernized interconnection pathways for large flexible loads
Federal support for stranded or cancelled transmission projects
2. Flexible Digital Infrastructure as a Reliability Resource
DPN’s filing provides detailed analysis of how flexible loads, particularly Bitcoin mining, can reduce congestion, act as shock absorbers for the grid, and accelerate the commissioning of dispatchable generation.
Key recommendations include:
Incorporating flexible load into DOE technical assistance, modeling, and cost-allocation studies
Recognizing dispatchable load as a wholesale market participant
Conducting DOE–ISO/RTO workshops to standardize flexible-load planning
Leveraging Bitcoin mining and AI facilities as anchor tenants for rural transmission buildout
3. Federal Credit Support for AI & Compute Infrastructure
DPN identifies a major financing barrier: AI data-center projects often rely on tenants without investment-grade credit ratings, making traditional project finance unworkable. DPN proposes:
A new federal credit-enhancement or loan-guarantee mechanism for AI and energy-intensive compute facilities
Expansion of DOE’s Title XVII loan authority to include advanced digital-infrastructure projects
A structured model analogous to Export-Import Bank guarantees
4. Brownfield Redevelopment & Domestic Manufacturing
With more than 450,000 brownfield sites nationwide, DPN urges DOE to partner with EPA to streamline permitting and revitalize idle industrial property for data-center, digital-infrastructure, and clean-energy development.
Additional recommendations include:
Strengthening domestic supply chains for transformers, switchgear, and copper-intensive components
Phased tariff structures to avoid delaying near-term AI infrastructure construction
Workforce development programs combining AI, Bitcoin mining, and grid-operations training
5. A New Approach to Market Design
DPN’s filing calls for a modernization of U.S. electricity market structures, stating:
“The utility model established more than a century ago cannot manage the speed and scale of today’s load growth. Large flexible loads must be allowed to fully participate in wholesale markets, not confined to monopoly-utility retail constructs.”
DPN argues that embracing dispatchable load as a wholesale market actor is critical to:
Lowering system costs
Enabling new generation
Enhancing reliability
Supporting the nation’s broader energy-security strategy
6. A Comprehensive Federal Blueprint for Large-Load Infrastructure
DPN recommends the creation of a Federal Large Load Infrastructure Task Force, co-led by DOE and FERC, to coordinate permitting, financing, and industrial siting across multiple federal agencies, including Treasury, Commerce, EPA, and the Department of Defense.
About the Digital Power Network (DPN):
The Digital Power Network (DPN) is the largest coalition of Bitcoin miners and digital infrastructure leaders in the United States, representing over 85% of the Bitcoin hash rate among publicly traded U.S. mining companies. DPN advocates for policies that promote energy innovation, grid resilience, economic development, and the strategic role of digital assets in the 21st-century economy.