diff --git a/src/Grids/spectralelement.jl b/src/Grids/spectralelement.jl
index 3913c52913..c880c99829 100644
--- a/src/Grids/spectralelement.jl
+++ b/src/Grids/spectralelement.jl
@@ -39,16 +39,24 @@ function SpectralElementGrid1D(
     end
 end
 
-function _SpectralElementGrid1D(
+_SpectralElementGrid1D(
     topology::Topologies.IntervalTopology,
     quadrature_style::Quadratures.QuadratureStyle,
+) = _SpectralElementGrid1D(
+    topology,
+    quadrature_style,
+    Val(Topologies.nlocalelems(topology)),
 )
+
+function _SpectralElementGrid1D(
+    topology::Topologies.IntervalTopology,
+    quadrature_style::Quadratures.QuadratureStyle,
+    ::Val{Nh},
+) where {Nh}
     global_geometry = Geometry.CartesianGlobalGeometry()
     CoordType = Topologies.coordinate_type(topology)
     AIdx = Geometry.coordinate_axis(CoordType)
     FT = eltype(CoordType)
-    nelements = Topologies.nlocalelems(topology)
-    Nh = nelements
     Nq = Quadratures.degrees_of_freedom(quadrature_style)
 
     LG = Geometry.LocalGeometry{AIdx, CoordType, FT, SMatrix{1, 1, FT, 1}}
@@ -56,7 +64,7 @@ function _SpectralElementGrid1D(
     quad_points, quad_weights =
         Quadratures.quadrature_points(FT, quadrature_style)
 
-    for elem in 1:nelements
+    for elem in 1:Nh
         local_geometry_slab = slab(local_geometry, elem)
         for i in 1:Nq
             ξ = quad_points[i]
@@ -182,12 +190,24 @@ function get_CoordType2D(topology)
     end
 end
 
-function _SpectralElementGrid2D(
+_SpectralElementGrid2D(
     topology::Topologies.Topology2D,
     quadrature_style::Quadratures.QuadratureStyle;
     enable_bubble::Bool,
+) = _SpectralElementGrid2D(
+    topology,
+    quadrature_style,
+    Val(Topologies.nlocalelems(topology));
+    enable_bubble,
 )
 
+function _SpectralElementGrid2D(
+    topology::Topologies.Topology2D,
+    quadrature_style::Quadratures.QuadratureStyle,
+    ::Val{Nh};
+    enable_bubble::Bool,
+) where {Nh}
+
     # 1. compute localgeom for local elememts
     # 2. ghost exchange of localgeom
     # 3. do a round of dss on WJs
@@ -213,8 +233,6 @@ function _SpectralElementGrid2D(
     end
     CoordType2D = get_CoordType2D(topology)
     AIdx = Geometry.coordinate_axis(CoordType2D)
-    nlelems = Topologies.nlocalelems(topology)
-    Nh = nlelems
     ngelems = Topologies.nghostelems(topology)
     Nq = Quadratures.degrees_of_freedom(quadrature_style)
     high_order_quadrature_style = Quadratures.GLL{Nq * 2}()
diff --git a/test/Spaces/opt_spaces.jl b/test/Spaces/opt_spaces.jl
index c2d66c8876..5e52b9004d 100644
--- a/test/Spaces/opt_spaces.jl
+++ b/test/Spaces/opt_spaces.jl
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 #=
 julia --project=.buildkite
+ENV["CLIMACOMMS_DEVICE"] = "CUDA";
 using Revise; include(joinpath("test", "Spaces", "opt_spaces.jl"))
 =#
 import ClimaCore
-import ClimaCore: Spaces, Grids
+import ClimaCore: Spaces, Grids, Topologies
 using Test
 include(
     joinpath(pkgdir(ClimaCore), "test", "TestUtilities", "TestUtilities.jl"),
@@ -34,19 +35,19 @@ end
 #! format: off
     if ClimaComms.device(context) isa ClimaComms.CUDADevice
         test_n_failures(86,   TU.PointSpace, context)
-        test_n_failures(144,  TU.SpectralElementSpace1D, context)
+        test_n_failures(141,  TU.SpectralElementSpace1D, context)
         test_n_failures(1141, TU.SpectralElementSpace2D, context)
-        test_n_failures(123,  TU.ColumnCenterFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
-        test_n_failures(123,  TU.ColumnFaceFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
-        test_n_failures(1131, TU.SphereSpectralElementSpace, context)
-        test_n_failures(1139, TU.CenterExtrudedFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
-        test_n_failures(1139, TU.FaceExtrudedFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
+        test_n_failures(3,  TU.ColumnCenterFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
+        test_n_failures(4,  TU.ColumnFaceFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
+        test_n_failures(1147, TU.SphereSpectralElementSpace, context)
+        test_n_failures(1146, TU.CenterExtrudedFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
+        test_n_failures(1146, TU.FaceExtrudedFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
     else
         test_n_failures(0,    TU.PointSpace, context)
         test_n_failures(137,  TU.SpectralElementSpace1D, context)
         test_n_failures(310,  TU.SpectralElementSpace2D, context)
-        test_n_failures(118,  TU.ColumnCenterFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
-        test_n_failures(118,  TU.ColumnFaceFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
+        test_n_failures(4,  TU.ColumnCenterFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
+        test_n_failures(5,  TU.ColumnFaceFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
         test_n_failures(316,  TU.SphereSpectralElementSpace, context)
         test_n_failures(321,  TU.CenterExtrudedFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
         test_n_failures(321,  TU.FaceExtrudedFiniteDifferenceSpace, context)
@@ -56,11 +57,10 @@ end
         # separately:
 
         space = TU.CenterExtrudedFiniteDifferenceSpace(Float32; context=ClimaComms.context())
-        # @test_opt Grids._SpectralElementGrid2D(Spaces.topology(space), Spaces.quadrature_style(space); enable_bubble=false)
-
-        result = JET.@report_opt Grids._SpectralElementGrid2D(Spaces.topology(space), Spaces.quadrature_style(space); enable_bubble=false)
+        Nh = Val(Topologies.nlocalelems(Spaces.topology(space)))
+        result = JET.@report_opt Grids._SpectralElementGrid2D(Spaces.topology(space), Spaces.quadrature_style(space), Val(Nh); enable_bubble=false)
         n_found = length(JET.get_reports(result.analyzer, result.result))
-        n_allowed = 187
+        n_allowed = 0
         @test n_found ≤ n_allowed
         if n_found < n_allowed
             @info "Inference may have improved for _SpectralElementGrid2D: (n_found, n_allowed) = ($n_found, $n_allowed)"