Grid United will advance corridor refinement, land-rights acquisition, stakeholder engagement, environmental permitting support, and supply-chain sequencing for long-lead items such as transformers, smoothing reactors, and converter valves. According to Hitachi Energy and Grid United, the NPC is designed to address that deficiency. That announcement outlined a plan for Hitachi Energy to provide HVDC technology across multiple Grid United transmission projects. “North Plains Connector will be the first transmission system connecting three major U.S. energy markets, supporting a key goal of the U.S. Department of Energy for interregional transmission connections to enhance grid reliability and resilience,” said Allie Wahrenberger, vice president of Engineering for Grid United. “We are proud to support Grid United to advance this project, which is so critical to the expansion of the U.S. grid in the face of skyrocketing electricity demand.”—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).