Sonal C. Patel
Articles By

Sonal C. Patel

Sonal Patel is a national award-winning multimedia journalist and senior editor at POWER magazine with nearly two decades of experience delivering technically rigorous reporting across power generation, transmission, distribution, policy, and infrastructure worldwide.

  • POWERnews—Sept. 10, 2026

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 10, 2026 DOE Closes $1.9-Billion Loan to Restart Duane Arnold Nuclear Plant The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) said the agency has closed a loan of as much as $1.9 billion to NextEra Energy to support the restart of the Duane […]

  • Major Leap for Solid-State Transformers: Megawatt-Class Unit Demonstrated on Live Feeder

    North Carolina State University, the New York Power Authority (NYPA), and EPRI have demonstrated a megawatt-class solid-state transformer (SST) on a live 13.2-kV utility distribution feeder, marking what the partners describe as the first independent validation of a megawatt-class SST under real-world distribution conditions. The NC State-built prototype was connected at EPRI’s power delivery laboratory […]

  • Can U.S. High-Voltage Grid Equipment Supply Keep Pace With 765-kV Expansion and Data Center Demand?

    From two-year bushing lead times and hyperscaler demand to U.S. manufacturing expansion and the emerging 765-kV build-out, Trench Group CEO Bahadir Basdere explains where high-voltage equipment supply is under the most pressure. High-voltage grid components are becoming a critical constraint as utilities, transmission developers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and hyperscalers compete for equipment needed to […]

  • POWERnews—Sept. 3, 2026

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 3, 2026 NextEra, Santee Cooper Point to Real Dollar Savings From AI Deployments NextEra Energy says an artificial intelligence (AI)–driven dispatch and outage-scheduling tool has saved its customers more than $20 million so far this year. Santee Cooper expects a custom […]

  • The POWER Interview: How the Data Center Power Crunch Is Reshaping the Talent Market

    As data center developers confront tighter power supplies, longer interconnection timelines, and growing scrutiny over who should pay for the grid infrastructure required to serve large loads, those pressures are beginning to reshape another part of the development equation: talent. As states and utilities reconsider how the costs of serving large data center loads should […]

  • Studsvik Selects GE Vernova Hitachi, Samsung C&T for 1.2-GW Swedish BWRX-300 Project

    Following a competitive evaluation, Swedish nuclear technology company Studsvik AB has selected GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Samsung C&T as strategic collaborators for a proposed four-unit BWRX-300 project totaling about 1,200 MWe. The project is planned for either Studsvik’s licensed nuclear site in Nyköping or Målma in Valdemarsvik, and the first unit is expected […]

  • TIDAL PWR, BTQ Develop Blueprint for Quantum-Ready Data Centers

    Texas data center developer TIDAL PWR, which says it has seven projects totaling 9.87 GW in its artificial intelligence (AI) campus development pipeline and designs its campuses to combine utility service and behind-the-meter generation, is collaborating with quantum technology company BTQ Technologies to determine how power and data center infrastructure could eventually accommodate quantum computing […]

  • Saeul 3’s Nine-Year Nuclear Odyssey to Operation

    Saeul 3 is the latest evolution of South Korea’s APR1400 program, completed after an extraordinary interruption in national nuclear policy, fortified during construction to address newer safety requirements

  • Ansaldo Returns to U.S. Gas Turbine Market as Equipment Crunch Widens Supplier Field

    A widening gas turbine supply crunch has prompted Ansaldo Energia to explore a new path back into the U.S. generation market after more than 30 years. The Italian manufacturer will supply California-based

  • POWER Digest [September 2026]

    Australia Moves to Make Data Centers Bring Power. The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has urged energy ministers to require large data centers connecting to the National Electricity Market to bring

  • The Janus Five: 20+ Commercial Nuclear Microreactors, Starting in 2028

    Five advanced nuclear companies will build, own, and operate more than 20 commercial nuclear microreactors across five U.S. Army installations under the Janus Program, a milestone-based effort designed to place the first project into useful service by September 2028 and establish repeatable commercial products. In exclusive interviews, the selected companies told POWER they intend to use the […]

  • U.S. Army Mobilizes $2.2B Janus Program to Deploy More Than 20 Commercial Microreactors

    The U.S. Army has mobilized up to $2.2 billion for a five-year effort to build and operate more than 20 commercial nuclear microreactors across military installations, selecting five reactor developers and five initial sites for a program designed to push advanced nuclear systems beyond federal test programs and into sustained operation by a Sept. 30, […]

  • The POWER Interview: How Is Rising Scrutiny Changing the Way Data Centers Secure Power? 

    A recent flurry of state and federal action points to a marked pivot from treating data center growth as a grid-planning challenge to requiring large-load customers to show who pays for grid upgrades, what capacity supports the load, and how projects will operate during system stress. Morgan Lewis partner Arjun P. Ramadevanahalli spoke with POWER […]

  • Westinghouse eVinci Reaches Criticality Milestone at Nevada Test Site

    Westinghouse’s eVinci microreactor has completed zero-power criticality testing at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC), a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) facility at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The company said the milestone, achieved at 10:39 a.m. PT on Aug. 24 in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Idaho National Laboratory […]

  • NRIC Adds 13 Projects to Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, Expanding Advanced Reactor and Fuel-Cycle Pipeline

    The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) has selected 13 new projects across 12 companies for its Nuclear Energy Launch Pad initiative in a significant expansion of the DOE-authorization pathway that channels advanced reactor and fuel-cycle developers toward demonstration on federal and non-federal sites. The selections—spanning microreactor developers, enrichment startups, fuel fabrication […]

  • POWERnews—Aug. 20, 2026

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   August 20, 2026 PJM Widens Response to Data Center Load as Capacity Shortfalls Deepen PJM Interconnection has proposed a new framework that would allow large data centers and other major electricity users to enter service without first securing enough new capacity to […]

  • Shapiro Sets Binding GRID Requirements in Pennsylvania, Targets Data Center Power Costs

    Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order on Aug. 18 that raises the bar for large data center development in the state, directing agencies to condition favorable permitting treatment and tax benefits on compliance with new energy, infrastructure, environmental, workforce, and community requirements. Executive Order 2026-05 applies its central permitting provisions to data centers with […]

  • PJM Widens Response to Data Center Load as Capacity Shortfalls Deepen

    PJM Interconnection has proposed a new framework that would allow large data centers and other major electricity users to enter service without first securing enough new capacity to cover their demand—but would make the uncovered portion of that load available for reduction before PJM calls on existing pre-emergency demand-response resources if electricity supplies become dangerously […]

  • Contested 5-GW Ridgeline Gas, Solar, and Data-Center Complex in West Virginia Clears Site-Control Question

    The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s (WVDEP) Division of Air Quality (DAQ) has determined that Purcellville, Virginia-based Fundamental Data satisfied the site-control requirements associated with its August 2025 air quality permit for the Ridgeline Facility—a gas turbine power plant that Fundamental Data is planning as the first phase of a project intended to include […]

  • POWERnews—Aug. 13, 2026

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   August 13, 2026 3 GW Off PJM, Again: What NERC’s 2024 Investigation Already Told Us More than 3 GW of data center load left the PJM system on July 22, 2026, after a single transmission fault. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation […]

  • Texas 2.5-GW Gas-Plus-Nuclear Project Proceeds to Engineering, Licensing Phase

    Blue Energy and GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GVH) have signed an agreement to launch the next phase of their collaboration on a planned 2.5-GW gas-plus-nuclear power project in Victoria, Texas, moving the closely watched data-center power concept from an announced collaboration to engineering, licensing, and safety analysis. The Aug. 13-announced agreement will advance project definition for […]

  • More Data Center Operators Commit to Abbott’s Texas Standards as Power Companies Endorse ERCOT Batch Framework

    A growing group of data center operators—including Dallas-based Skybox Datacenters, Austin-headquartered bitcoin miner and hyperscale developer Mara, and global colocation giant Digital Realty—have publicly committed to comply with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s data center standards and the state’s active audit of projects in the Texas grid operator’s interconnection queue. They join QTS Data Centers, Blackstone’s […]

  • POWERnews—Aug. 6, 2026

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   August 6, 2026 Oklo’s Groves Becomes Fifth DOE Pilot Reactor to Reach Criticality, First on Private Land Oklo’s Groves Isotope Test Reactor in Lockhart, Texas, has become the fifth reactor to achieve criticality under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program […]

  • Texas Audit Could Delay 49.8 GW of Data Center Load, Cost Projects Up to $15 Billion, BNEF Warns

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Aug. 3 order pausing all new data center connections to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid until a comprehensive audit is complete could delay 49.8 GW of new data center electricity demand from advancing on the ERCOT system—nearly 20% of the U.S. development pipeline—BloombergNEF (BNEF) said in an Aug. 5 […]

  • Oklo’s Groves Becomes Fifth DOE Pilot Reactor to Reach Criticality, First on Private Land

    Oklo’s Groves Isotope Test Reactor in Lockhart, Texas, has become the fifth reactor to achieve criticality under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program (RPP), and the first under the program to do so on private land. The low-power test reactor reached criticality at 9:19 p.m. ET Aug. 5, achieving a controlled, self-sustaining nuclear […]

  • The POWER Interview: NRG’s Case for Bring Your Own Power—and the Labor to Build It

    NRG Energy on Aug. 4 unveiled its first Bring Your Own Power (BYOP) project, a 1.2-GW combined-cycle plant in Texas supported by a 15-year contract with an investment-grade “leading global cloud and artificial-intelligence hyperscaler.” The $3.2 billion facility, backed by a customer parent guarantee, is targeted for commercial operation in late 2029 and could be […]

  • Abbott Orders Full Audit of Texas Data Center Interconnection Queue, Threatens to Deny Grid Access

    Texas Governor Greg Abbott has directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to conduct a comprehensive audit of every data center advancing through the state’s interconnection queue, warning that projects that fail to disclose ownership, financial, water, and community-impact information could be denied grid access. The […]

  • Is the Power Project Crunch Upending the Owner—EPC Model?

    Developers and contractors at a recent event described how the generation buildout is forcing earlier engineering, procurement, and construction contractor involvement; deeper supply-chain tracking; repeatable

  • In the Thar Desert, Pakistan Proves Its Indigenous Coal Can Be a Reliable Power Resource

    Engro Powergen Thar Limited turned an untapped desert coalfield into Pakistan’s cheapest power—and a template for energy independence. Pakistan entered the second half of the 2010s in chronic power

  • Seatrium’s Floating, Remote-Controlled DER Platform Sends First Electrons to Singapore’s Grid

    Seatrium Limited, the Singapore-based offshore, marine, and energy engineering group formed in 2023 from the merger of Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore & Marine, delivered its first electrons from its