Data Centers

Calibrant Energy, a leading provider of on-site energy solutions, on November 10 announced the close of a $145-million debt facility led by Investec for solar and battery storage projects across multiple U.S. power markets. The portfolio includes a 120-MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) serving a hyperscale data center customer in the PJM territory. Citi, […]

It’s now well understood that load growth on the grid is exponential and driven primarily by data centers. A range of generation types are racing to meet this demand. Renewable developers are well-positioned here, finding opportunity built into their existing projects or development pipelines. Land and interconnection positions secured years ago for one purpose are […]

For decades, electric utilities have planned around a relatively predictable relationship between population growth, economic activity, weather and electricity consumption. Demand increased gradually, infrastructure investments followed long-term forecasts and utilities generally had time to prepare for changes in where and how electricity was consumed. That planning model is being tested. The U.S. Energy Information Administration […]

How much more generation will the U.S. need to meet rising electricity demand? It’s an important question, but it isn’t the only one the power industry needs to answer. As data centers, advanced manufacturing, and broader electrification increase demand, the growing challenge is delivering power where and when it is needed. COMMENTARY New generation can […]

Public affairs strategists John Ashford and Jared Dubnow examine the political backlash against data centers, the implications for power-sector investment and regulation, and the potential for public opposition to spread to emerging generation technologies. Data centers have rapidly become a contentious election issue, as concerns over electricity affordability, infrastructure costs, and local development reshape political […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has closed a $5.1 billion federally guaranteed loan package for Alliant Energy’s two regulated utilities, providing access to lower-cost financing for new natural gas-fired generation, battery energy storage, liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage, and upgrades to existing power plants in Iowa and Wisconsin. The financing arrives as Alliant prepares for […]

The data center buildout underway across North America is charging ahead at full speed and may even surpass original forecasts. Facility owners are no longer planning incremental expansions. The demand for data, driven by the rapid adoption and maturation of artificial intelligence (AI), now has them planning in gigawatts. Demand has increased; expectations have changed, […]

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the power requirements of modern data centers. At this point in the timeline of AI’s continued evolution, this statement should not be controversial. The deployment of increasingly large GPU clusters for training and inference purposes, such as NVIDIA’s 72-GPU Vera Rubin model, is causing rack power densities to climb from […]

Emerald Horizon plans to sell a hybrid battery and molten-salt storage system now and add an accelerator-driven thorium generator later. The generator remains at an early stage of development. Austria decided against nuclear power in the late 1970s and has not revisited the question since, according to Mario Müller, vice president of research and development […]

American Electric Power (AEP) and X-energy have agreed to evaluate a 960-MW small modular reactor (SMR) project in Indiana, backed by Amazon development funding and a proposed long-term power purchase agreement designed to protect existing utility customers from project costs. The 12-reactor project would be the second deployment under Amazon and X-energy’s collaboration to develop […]

Proposed reliability standards that would require qualifying data centers, artificial intelligence facilities, and cryptocurrency operations to provide grid data, coordinate protection settings, and respond to grid operators’ instructions have passed their final stakeholder ballot, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) announced Oct. 15. The standards and associated implementation plans will next go before NERC’s […]

When the heads of three of the power sector’s biggest trade associations shared a stage at Experience POWER on Sept. 30, the most notable thing was how little they disagreed. Whether the question was data center backlash, grid security, or what to do about gas-plant emissions rules, the answer came back to the same point: […]

This year’s Data Center POWER eXchange (DPX), whose programming POWER’s editors curated, was structured to look beyond the scale of opportunity presented by large-load forecasts and delve into the questions they raise. A key focus: What will it take to deliver power infrastructure and data centers on timelines, terms, and operating conditions that both industries […]

Who pays, who bears the risk, who decides, and when? Virginia Commissioner Jehmal Hudson makes a forceful case that serving large-load growth requires credible commitments, earlier coordination, and ratepayer protections built into investment decisions. Good afternoon. Thank you to POWER Magazine for inviting me to join you today. It is a pleasure to be with […]

Over 2,060 gigawatts. That is the staggering volume of generation and storage capacity currently trapped waiting in U.S. interconnection queues. According to data from RMI, the typical project now takes almost five years—stuck in administrative and transmission review before a single watt can be delivered to the grid. In 2008, it was only two years. For […]

Fit Energy, a developer of energy solutions for data center projects, has announced plans for a fuel cell power generation and data center project in Newport Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The project received township zoning approval for both uses in August of this year. Fit Energy on October 6 said engineering and the remaining permitting […]

U.S. grid planners are preparing for annual electricity demand growth of about 0.9% to 1.6% through 2050, with data centers emerging as a major driver, and EPRI—the Electric Power Research Institute—suggesting they could account for as much as 17% of U.S. electricity demand by 2030. For the wind, solar, and energy storage industry, this represents […]

  Traditional magnetic induction-based instrument transformers have served the power industry reliably for decades, but a new generation of low-power alternatives is gaining ground — particularly in data centers and industrial facilities where accuracy, size, and integration with digital secondary systems matter. This paper reports on LPIT history, standardization, and some of the applications in […]

Data centers are connecting to the transmission system faster than the reliability rules were built to handle and behaving nothing like the passive load those rules assumed. Here’s what the North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s (NERC’s) Large Loads Action Plan, a new class of registered entity, and a hard 2026 deadline mean for anyone planning, […]

  Data centers face big challenges, from processing trillions of search queries, storing billions of emails and photos and serving countless hours of video every day while at the same time developing ways of decreasing their energy and carbon footprints and increasing data security. In this episode, Angad Sandhu, CTO of Giga Energy (director of […]

  Data centers commonly deploy looped medium-voltage (MV) distribution systems with automated protection and control schemes to deliver exceptionally high levels of power availability. However, these automation schemes rely on communications infrastructures where latency and scalability can affect fault-response performance. This paper presents a robust, hybrid FLISR strategy that integrates centralized and decentralized control to […]

Artificial intelligence (AI) data centers are being built at an unprecedented pace. There are more than 12,000 active projects in the U.S. currently seeking grid interconnection representing 1,570 GW of generator capacity and 1,030 GW of energy storage. Analyst firm Omdia predicts that AI will drive more than 50% of installed power generation capacity over […]

As reciprocating engines/gensets assume a larger role in distributed generation, data center infrastructure, and other critical duty applications, crankcase ventilation and the resulting emissions warrant increased attention and mitigation. When power generation professionals discuss engine emissions, the conversation typically focuses on the exhaust stack. While this emphasis is justified, it underestimates another emissions pathway: the […]

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 […]

The U.S. power grid is entering a period unlike any it has experienced in decades. Rapid electrification, domestic manufacturing, and the exponential growth of artificial intelligence are reshaping electricity demand. A recent report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, projects that data centers alone could account for between 9.5% […]

Utilities and independent power producers have spent years adding sensors to their generating fleets and creating dashboards to view what they relay. But visibility into how a plant is operating isn’t the same as knowing what to do about it—and that gap is where Siemens Energy’s Omnivise Energy Management System is increasingly shedding light, explained […]

Florida-headquartered ONE Nuclear Energy said the company has executed a binding letter of intent (LOI) that would provide site control for development of Project Cayman, a 2.88-GW gas-fired power plant and 700-MW/2.88 GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) sited alongside a data center complex.

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 […]

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

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