Business
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Trends
The Frog Is Dead: North America’s Power Grid Faces Its Biggest Reckoning in a Generation
For much of the 21st century, the North American power sector drifted along on near-zero demand growth. Utilities retired aging coal plants, developers filled interconnection queues with wind and solar, and investors looked elsewhere for excitement. Then came the data center boom—and seemingly overnight, the industry found itself in a full-blown supply crisis. In a […]
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Nuclear
GE Vernova, Hitachi Exploring SMR Deployment in Southeast Asia
Energy giants GE Vernova and Hitachi said the companies have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as part of a plan to deploy the groups’ water-cooled BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) in Southeast Asia.
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Commentary
Resource Plans Drive Clean Energy Value Creation for Investors
Electric utilities have a significant opportunity to create long‑term value by building new clean energy infrastructure—an approach Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway utilities have followed quietly but effectively for decades. Xcel Energy calls its version of this strategy “Steel for Fuel.”
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Press Releases
Eagle Point Provides Loan to Texas Solar and Storage Developer
Eagle Point Credit Management LLC, a private credit investment manager, said it has provided a $28.5-million senior secured term loan to Heritage Energy Storage DevCo I LLC, owned by Heritage Energy Holdings, LLC, a Texas-based solar and storage developer.
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Data Centers
AI Groups Utilidata, NexGen Cloud Partner to Unlock Stranded Energy
Utilidata, a group specializing in embedded artificial intelligence (AI) for power infrastructure, and NexGen Cloud, a European AI cloud provider, have announced the deployment of the Karman AI power control platform across NexGen Cloud’s data centers. The companies on March 12 said the collaboration is designed to increase available AI compute capacity within existing grid […]
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Solar
Solar Adds 43 GW in 2025; Fifth Straight Year as Top New Generation Source
A new report from a leading solar industry group and a top energy data analytics firm said about 43 GW of new solar power generation capacity was added across the U.S. last year.
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Legal & Regulatory
FERC: Small QFs Lose FPA Exemptions When Certifications Become Inaccurate
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) on February 19 of this year issued an Order on Rehearing and Clarification ruling that qualifying facilities (QFs) that are 20 MW or smaller cannot rely on their exemption from Federal Power Act (FPA) Sections 205 and 206 during periods when their Form No. 556 certifications are outdated due to any material changes from the original certification, such as changes in upstream ownership.
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Data Centers
Babcock & Wilcox Will Deliver 1.2 GW of Gas-Fired Capacity for Applied Digital Data Centers
Energy group Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) said it will proceed on a $2.4-billion design-build agreement with an independent power producer (IPP) to support data center campuses. B&W on March 4 said the deal with Base Electron, an IPP, will supply power for what the groups called artificial intelligence (AI) factory campuses for Dallas, Texas-headquartered Applied Digital.
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Gas
Coal-to-Gas Conversions Approved for Two Arizona Power Plants
Energy regulators in Arizona have given the go-ahead to convert several units at two coal-fired power plants in the state to burn natural gas.
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Data Centers
Hyperscalers Sign White House Pledge to Fund Data Center Power, Grid Upgrades
Seven of the nation’s largest artificial intelligence (AI) companies and hyperscalers signed a White House-brokered agreement March 4 committing to build, procure, or fund new generation capacity sufficient to cover the electricity demands of their data centers—and to pay for all grid infrastructure upgrades required to connect them, without passing those costs to residential or […]
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Solar
Arevon Brings 430-MW Solar Farm Online in Missouri
An Arizona-headquartered energy development group announced the start of commercial operations for a 430-MW solar power installation in Missouri. Scottsdale-based Arevon said it developed, built, and will own and operate the Kelso Solar Project in Scott County.
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Legal & Regulatory
A Historic First: NRC Clears TerraPower’s Natrium Nuclear Reactor for Construction
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on March 4 authorized staff to issue a construction permit for TerraPower’s Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1 in Kemmerer, Wyoming—the first commercial reactor the agency has approved for construction in nearly a decade, and the first approval for a commercial non–light water reactor design in more than 40 years. The […]
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Renewables
Avantus Closes Financing for Solar-Plus-Storage Project in Arizona
Clean energy provider Avantus said it has closed a financing package of more than $300 million with Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) and the New York branch of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce for the Kitt Solar and Energy Storage Project in Pinal County, Arizona.
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Solar
Otovo Secures $16.6-Million Private Placement to Fund EnergyAid Acquisition
Otovo, an artificial intelligence (AI)-native energy service provider for residential and commercial customers, announced the successful completion of a private placement raising about $16.6 million through the issuance of about 14.0 million new shares.
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Data Centers
EQT, GIP Move to Take AES Private in $33B Bet on Data Center Power Demand
A private equity–led consortium has agreed to take AES Corp. private in a $33.4 billion deal that—if completed—will shift one of the largest U.S.-listed power companies and a major data‑center renewables supplier into private ownership. AES’s board says the move, which comes as load growth and capital needs are rising across the sector, is designed […]
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Data Centers
Google Data Center in Minnesota Would Be Powered by Wind, Energy Storage
Minnesota Power has signed an electric service agreement (ESA) with Google for the energy needed to power a 700-MW data center project in the state. The companies on March 3 said the installation in Hermantown would operate under an existing regulated rate structure.
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blackouts
THE BIG PICTURE (Infographic): Blackouts in 2025
Major power outage events in 2025 reveal a broad spectrum of reliability risks, spanning voltage instability and protection failures to extreme weather and heat-related transmission stress. Compared with recent years, which were largely characterized by weather-driven disruptions and resource-adequacy events, 2025 incidents more clearly highlight vulnerabilities in interconnected system operations, including voltage management, reactive power […]
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Microgrid
Powered Remotely: Microgrids Connect Rural Communities with Sustainable Energy Security
Microgrids are bringing greater energy independence to rural and remote communities. ABB’s microgrids experts outline how today’s smart localized power generation and distribution systems lessen far-flung homes and businesses’ reliance on costly fossil fuels and fragile national grid infrastructures. Protecting Remote Communities from Energy Insecurity It’s easy for town and city dwellers to take the […]
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advanced nuclear
China’s Advanced Nuclear Efforts Are Pushing Frontiers
While the bulk of focus on advanced nuclear technology has honed in tightly on the U.S., from enrichment and conversion to advanced fuels, reprocessing strategies, and fast-spectrum systems, several other
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Coal
POWER DIGEST [March 2026]
U.S.-based Energea in mid-January announced its acquisition of the YO Residence Solar Project, marking a significant milestone as the company’s first microgrid investment and entry into South Africa’s renewable energy market.
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Technology
Why the Promise of AI Is Real, but Potential Yet Unrealized
While artificial intelligence (AI) adoption has spread rapidly, meaningful productivity gains remain elusive because organizations have conflated easy-to-deploy horizontal AI tools with the domain-specific
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Legal & Regulatory
The Real Barriers to Power Sector Carbon Capture
Despite growing technical maturity, post-combustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects for power generation continue to face decisive hurdles. Integration complexity, financing structures, and risk
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Instrumentation & Controls
No Boots on Deck? How AI Enables Autonomous Energy Operations
Artificial intelligence (AI) has pushed the idea of a “one-button start-up” from sci-fi closer to engineering reality. But where is industrial AI for energy operations today, and how far away is that fully
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Gas
Engine Power Plants Surge as Data Centers Drive Unprecedented Demand
Manufacturers respond with gigawatt-scale deployments, fast-start technology, and expanded production capacity. The global appetite for electricity has never been more insatiable, and at the heart of this
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Commentary
From Bottleneck to Breakthrough: Why Procurement Is the Utility Industry’s Critical Capacity Builder
With electricity demand projected to rise 25% by 2030 and 78% by 2050 from 2023 levels, utilities are facing a perfect storm—aging infrastructure, climate-driven disruptions, and escalating expectations for reliability and resilience. Meeting this moment will require more than incremental improvement; it demands entirely new sources of capacity, and a fundamental rethink of how the […]
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Nuclear
Russia’s Rosatom Will Continue Foreign Nuclear Power Plant Projects Despite UK Sanctions
Russia’s state-owned nuclear power group said it will move forward with its power plant projects in foreign countries despite new sanctions from the UK government against Russian companies.
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Renewables
Construction Financing Complete for 347-MW Texas Solar Power Project
A Texas-headquartered solar power and battery energy storage developer said it has completed construction financing for a utility-scale project being built as part of a joint venture with an Israel-based group.
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Fusion
NRC Proposes First Dedicated Regulatory Framework for Commercial Fusion Machines
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has proposed the first dedicated federal licensing framework for commercial fusion machines, setting out a technology‑inclusive, risk‑informed approach under its 10 CFR Part 30 byproduct material rules rather than the power‑reactor framework used for fission plants. The proposed rule seeks to place regulatory oversight of fusion‑generated radioactive material within […]
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Finance
Southern Co. Lands Largest Loan in DOE History—$26.5B for Gas, Nuclear, and Grid Projects
The Department of Energy (DOE) has closed a $26.54 billion loan package—the largest single loan commitment in the agency’s history—with Southern Co. subsidiaries Georgia Power and Alabama Power to finance more than 16 GW of “firm” generation and more than 1,300 miles of transmission infrastructure and grid enhancement across the Southeast. The transaction, announced Feb. […]
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Nuclear
SHINE Raises $240 Million in Funding to Advance Commercial Fusion Technology
Nuclear fusion group SHINE Technologies said it has raised $240 million in equity funding to advance the company’s commercial fusion technology.