Power Demand

The transition toward electrification has challenges, such as the need for more infrastructure to support charging of electric cars and trucks, and other transport vehicles. The residential and commercial and industrial sectors must consider the cost of new technologies for heating and cooling.

Seven major U.S. grid operators have raised a unified alarm about an impending capacity crunch, warning that the pace and scale of explosive demand—including from data centers, manufacturing, and electrification—pose a precarious misalignment with accelerating generator retirements and transmission constraints. At a March 25 hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, the […]

A changing policy landscape presents challenges for moving away from fossil fuels. Executives say that may slow, but won’t halt, the momentum to electrify. Remember the slogan “electrify everything”? It

In a 2023 report, McKinsey & Company projected 35 GW of new power will be needed for data centers in the U.S. by 2030. This forecast doubled the required power consumption from data servers, up from 17 GW in 2022. The explosive growth in data center infrastructure driven by investments in artificial intelligence (AI) is […]

This whitepaper from SimuTech Group explores how multiphysics simulation helps engineers solve performance and reliability challenges across the energy generation industry. Covering structural, thermal, fluid, and electromagnetic domains, it highlights practical applications across fossil, nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, and hydrogen systems. Backed by 40+ years of experience, SimuTech Group offers proven strategies to accelerate innovation […]

The current fleet of nuclear reactors are based in huge imposing facilities generally located in isolated locations away from population centers.  This need not be the case. In the near future nuclear reactors will be regarded as portable, modular sources of safe and clean energy. Rather than being located in remote facilities hundreds of miles […]

Energy experts have called for bold reforms—from transmission planning to permitting streamlining and faster interconnection approvals—to prevent further volatility and ensure PJM Interconnection meets its reliability mandate without disproportionately burdening consumers. During a March 19 webinar hosted by Advanced Energy United—a trade group that advocates for policies supporting the transition to 100% clean energy—industry experts […]

Increasing adoption of cloud computing gave rise to the development of data centers, but the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and the increasing demand for digital services has resulted in an exponential surge of data center growth. The industry is in a transformative phase that will be marked by significant developments in infrastructure, technology […]

Net-demand energy forecasts are critical for competitive market participants, such as in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and similar markets, for several key reasons. For example, accurate forecasting helps predict when supply-demand imbalances will create price spikes or crashes, allowing traders and generators to optimize their bidding strategies. It’s also important for asset […]

Maryland lawmakers have introduced a bill in the state legislature that sponsors say would provide an easier path to build new power plants, including natural gas-fired facilities, and lower utility bills for ratepayers as part of the process.

Imagine unlocking 30% more power from our existing grid overnight. That’s the potential we’re ignoring, and it’s costing us billions. The demand for energy is rising, and utilities are struggling to serve this growth. In the U.S., congestion costs have increased from $8 billion in 2021 to more than $11 billion in 2023 despite record […]

In a hearing that underscored the mounting challenges facing the American power sector, industry leaders warned Congress that the nation’s power infrastructure is approaching a precarious juncture as unprecedented demand growth collides with retiring baseload generation. At the House Energy Subcommittee hearing on March 5, titled “Scaling for Growth: Meeting Demand for Reliable, Affordable Electricity,” […]

PPL subsidiaries Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Company (KU) have proposed to upgrade environmental controls at a 1974-built coal unit, build two new gas-fired power plants at a combined cost of $2.8 billion, and add 400 MW of battery storage. The measures seek to significantly boost the companies’ capacity to ready […]

A Canada-based crypto mining company is acquiring two Pennsylvania coal-fired power plants as part of its purchase of a digital mining group.

GE Vernova and Amazon Web Services announced the companies have signed a strategic framework agreement aimed at supporting AWS’s data center scaling. The groups on March 4 said they would collaborate to address increasing global energy demand, advance grid security and reliability, and decarbonize electric power systems.

Data center power demand is accelerating, pushing the grid to its limits and prompting tech giants to bet on next-generation nuclear reactors. But given steep costs, regulatory hurdles, and uncertain

Policy upheavals have cast uncertainty over the future of carbon capture and storage in the power sector, though its momentum is widely expected to continue. In November 2024, the Global CCS Institute, an

As we stand on the brink of an all-electric future in North America, we find ourselves amidst a monumental shift—from a reliance on oil, coal, and gas to a world powered by electricity. This transformation

In a bid to stave off an escalating power crisis, NAES, one of the largest independent power plant operators in the U.S., and Gecko Robotics, a leader in AI-driven robotic inspection and predictive maintenance, have moved to champion a prominent role for the nation’s existing fleet, launching a $100 million strategic partnership to bolster their […]

Constellation Energy’s ambitious plan to restart the Three Mile Island Unit 1 as the Crane Clean Energy Center (CEC) is proceeding ahead of schedule, shooting for a 2028 start date, despite a new report that suggests Microsoft may be re-evaluating its data center strategy. Just five months after Constellation announced a landmark 20-year power purchase […]

NRG Energy is joining with GE Vernova and Kiewit Corp. in a plan to build four new natural gas-fired power plants. The companies on Feb. 26 said the venture is designed to help supply the energy-intensive data center and artificial intelligence sector. “The accelerating demand for electricity in part due to GenAI [generative artificial intelligence] […]

Researchers from Duke University have said that integrating more flexibility into U.S. power grids could help provide the energy needed to power future load growth, particularly the electricity needed to support artificial intelligence and data centers. The group in a Feb. 19 webinar discussed their findings, which are contained in their recent report titled “Rethinking […]

Between plummeting temperatures and surging demand, the record-breaking Arctic blast that swept across the Northeast in January put power suppliers to the test. Their success in managing the volatility traces back to decisions made days and weeks earlier. Those with accurate forecasting models navigated the cold spell successfully. Others faced stark choices between absorbing massive […]

Texas-based oil and gas major Energy Transfer said the company has entered into a long-term agreement with Colorado-based CloudBurst Data Centers for the energy supply to serve a data center development in Texas. The agreement announced Feb. 10 calls for Energy Transfer to provide as much as 450,000 MMBtu per day of natural gas to […]

With nearly 60% of the state’s electricity generated from solar, wind, and geothermal energy, California is well past the halfway mark to its goal of 100% renewable power generation by 2045. But this comes with major challenges, both financial and environmental. Mainly, generating adequate electricity during the hours when the sun is not shining is […]

Several U.S. utilities in recent months have said they plan to keep coal-fired units in their generation fleets operating past their scheduled retirement dates, in most cases citing increased demand for electricity in their service areas. Some also note that the Trump administration is likely to eschew enforcement of current pollution standards, and attempt to […]

Texas A&M University System has unveiled four nuclear developers with which it plans to explore building and operating small modular reactor plants (SMRs) at its Texas A&M-RELLIS campus near College Station. The project—dubbed “The Energy Proving Ground”—is part of a state-supported initiative to deploy operational advanced reactors in Texas within the next five to seven […]

As policies and regulations are adjusted to reflect a new presidential administration, the U.S. needs to unleash its full energy potential by embracing nuclear power. With opinions and regulations historically slow to adjust, the impetus for nuclear power may depend on the tech companies whose race for artificial intelligence (AI) may at last solve the […]

The rapid rise of data centers has put many power industry demand forecasters on edge. Some predict the power-hungry nature of the facilities will quickly create problems for utilities and the grid. ICIS, a data analytics provider, calculates that in 2024, demand from data centers in Europe accounted for 96 TWh, or 3.1% of total […]

As the demand for artificial intelligence (AI), and data and cloud services increases, the U.S. is seeing a rapid rise in data center development and a surge in demand for power to fuel the additional load. Leading research estimates that data centers could consume up to 9% of U.S. electricity generation annually by 2030, up […]