With operations in 23 states, Avangrid is working to improve the power layout of the U.S. The company has eight electric and natural gas utilities in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York, such as the Central Maine Power Company (CMP) and New York State Electric & Gas Corporation (NYSEG), which collectively serve over 3.3 million customers. Its power business also includes more than 75 generation sites, serving over 3.1 million customers nationwide with 10.5 GW of hydroelectric, natural gas, solar, and wind power, enough for more than three million residences.
During the March CERAWeek 2025 conference in Houston, Avangrid announced it would invest $20 billion in electrical grid infrastructure, including substations and transmission lines, through 2030. A spokesperson told The Energy Mix that the investment was spurred by the fact that “the U.S. grid infrastructure is aging and in need of major modernization and repair,” as well as the increase in domestic energy demand from the likes of artificial intelligence and data centers. Earlier in the year, the company stated that it had six projects under construction or nearing the construction phase, totaling more than 800 megawatts (MW) of capacity, set to join its eight existing projects that currently support data centers, totaling more than 1,250 MW.
In May, the company announced that in 2024, it had increased its investment in American suppliers year-over-year by 16% to reach $4.3 billion and over 7,000 businesses spanning all 50 states. In the press release, Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra said, “These figures are remarkable and demonstrate Avangrid’s commitment to supporting our domestic partner network. Year in and year out, our energy infrastructure projects not only enable Avangrid to deliver reliable and affordable power for homes and businesses but contribute to local and regional economies across the continent. Avangrid is proud to support American companies and jobs through our supply chain.”
Photo Courtesy Avangrid
The company’s commitment to American jobs is evident across an array of initiatives. Last June, Avangrid opened its National Training Center (NTC) in Sherman County, Oregon, where it will train over 200 employees annually to work with solar and wind technologies. Students can gain firsthand safety experience working on a 30-foot tower. Avangrid operates more than 14 wind and solar sites nearby in the state that support more than 60 full-time positions and generate over $140 million in property taxes over the projects’ lifetimes. The second cohort of students, including Wyatt Wall, graduated in December. Wall, who now works at a wind farm in Minnesota, said, “Hands-on is where I learn the best. It’s nice to come here to learn, practice, and get this experience.”
Additionally, the company’s philanthropic branch, the Avangrid Foundation, recently donated $100,000 to Maine’s Kennebec Valley Community College to help it acquire a Derrick Digger Truck for its Electrical Lineworker Technology Program. The digger truck will be used to train students to install utility poles. Pablo Colón, Avangrid Foundation executive director and Avangrid director of corporate citizenship, reflected, “Preparing the next generation of infrastructure workforce with new state-of-the-art resources is essential to maintaining and enhancing grid reliability and resiliency.” Many graduates of the program have gone on to careers at Central Maine Power.
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Avangrid is also an essential partner to communities facing harsh winters. The company has built more than 30 energy projects between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. Those 4.5 GW of capacity can deliver power to about 1 million residences. During a wave of extreme cold in January, Azagra explained, “Even in the midst of freezing temperatures, our energy assets are proving to be an affordable and reliable source of electricity for thousands of people across the country. I am grateful for the hundreds of technicians who work at our projects all year to ensure we are providing electricity when it’s needed the most.”
Overall, the company is simply focused on doing good. In February, JUST Capital and CNBC included Avangrid on their annual JUST 100 list of the country’s best corporate citizens for the fifth year in a row. In March, Ethisphere included it in its list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® for the seventh consecutive year. Notably, last year, Avangrid’s utility companies sent 198 lineworkers, damage assessors, and support staff to Virginia and South Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene to get power back on for millions of people left without electricity.
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Innovation is often key to Avangrid’s impact. For example, the company teamed up with Boston Dynamics and Levatas on a pilot project that used an artificial intelligence-powered robot dog named “Sparky” to analyze equipment in substations and spot issues that could lead to outages before they ever occur. Last August, the company’s New York subsidiaries, New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E), launched an initiative that uses data analytics to prioritize maintenance of the 10,600 trees that they identified as an immediate risk. Furthermore, last July, Avangrid collaborated with a fifth-generation rancher named Cameron Krebs in Oregon to launch the biggest solar grazing operation in the Pacific Northwest, spanning two solar farms. Krebs’ sheep eat the vegetation growing around the solar panels. “By reducing the total vegetation on site, we’re significantly reducing the fuel load and fire danger as we move into the hot, dry summer,” Krebs described.
The company’s clean energy initiatives are both beneficial for the environment and for the company’s revenues. In the first eight months of 2024, Avangrid generated approximately 15,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of clean energy, eliminating over 23 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. That is the equivalent of the emissions produced by 2.5 million gas-powered cars in one year or from burning 11.5 billion pounds of coal. Plus, according to the company’s 2023 sustainability report, the company’s clean energy initiatives that year contributed to 18% growth in net income.
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