ARUSHI SHARMA FRANK: What Should Be In The Strategic Blueprint For A 21st Century Grid?

On July 23, 2025, the White House released Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan, following Executive Order 14179. It outlines federal actions under three pillars: (1) accelerating AI innovation, (2) building AI infrastructure, and (3) asserting U.S. leadership globally. Under Pillar 2—infrastructure—the plan calls for a “strategic blueprint for navigating the complex energy landscape of the 21st century,” with clear steps to “stabilize the grid of today, optimize existing grid resources, and grow the grid for the future.”

Why This Matters

We all share the same grid. You’ll need it to work when you turn your lights on and have your Wi-Fi working so you can use AI to do more. We are all connected to the implications of getting this blueprint right.

Right now, that grid is getting old—fast. And it is managed by thousands of different power companies, each with its own rules and ways of doing things. This leads to a lot of uncoordinated action whenever we try something new at a national level. With AI at our door, we have to unify, so a blueprint for success set at a national stage can enable the grid to work for everyone – homes, businesses, steel mills, hospitals, and AI computing sites that support all of society.

A Roadmap To Help AI And People Using AI

First, we should give people and businesses new ways to create their own electricity and sell it back. Take a neighborhood where homes generate their own power from solar panels, batteries, or small generators. When they have extra energy, they could sell it back to the grid. This frees up the big grid for factories, hospitals, and schools that need more electricity.

President Trump talked about this in Pittsburgh, saying, “You build your own electric plant… I’m going to let you build… you’re going to make your electricity… you can sell it back in… you’ll even make money from the electric business.”