DATA CENTER POWER Direct

A once-predictable industry is moving at hyperscale speed. Here are five trends defining the biggest gas power buildout in a generation. Natural gas power is in the middle of its biggest buildout in a

Electricity demand for data centers worldwide is projected to double by 2030. As a result, developers are looking at small modular reactors (SMRs) to add low‑carbon power generation capacity.

The rapid growth of data centers in recent years is increasingly causing angst among power operators. Power industry leaders want assurances that the electric grid is reliable, protected, and sustainable for businesses and the public alike.

The first data center to run entirely on self-generated nuclear power will shatter a long-held assumption that computing infrastructure must wait for the grid. A large-scale facility will operate around the clock while controlled fission reactions take place 1,000 feet from its server racks. When that happens, every data center operator still waiting for grid […]

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 […]

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.

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 […]

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 […]

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.

Caterpillar Inc, OnePWR Solutions and Vero3 announced a strategic collaboration focused on developing large-scale lower-carbon power generation and permanent carbon storage projects to support mission-critical facilities, including data center infrastructure. The parties on March 2 said they intend to collaborate on the design of a fully integrated solution combining natural gas–based prime power generation, carbon […]

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. […]

The Trump administration is touting a proposed 9.2‑GW natural gas power complex near Portsmouth, Ohio, as the centerpiece of a new U.S.–Japan trade deal that officials say could steer up to $550 billion of Japanese capital into American energy and industrial projects. According to a Feb. 17 Commerce Department fact sheet and a statement by […]

Zeo Energy Corp., a Florida-based residential solar installer that acquired struggling concentrated solar thermal developer Heliogen Inc. six months ago, has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Creekstone Energy to study the development of 280 MW of generation for a multi-gigawatt data center campus under construction in Millard County, Utah. Under the Feb. […]

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has teamed up with artificial intelligence (AI) computing giant NVIDIA to advance “PROMETHEUS,” INL’s first-of-its-kind demonstration of an autonomous nuclear reactor driven by AI, to execute a key challenge under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Genesis Mission. The move adds momentum to DOE’s push to apply AI across the full reactor […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has released specifications for 26 artificial intelligence (AI) challenges under its Genesis Mission that could reshape how power plants are designed, licensed, built, and operated. Several directly target nuclear plant deployment timelines, grid interconnection bottlenecks, data center load integration, fusion commercialization, and subsurface energy recovery. Launched via executive order on […]

The challenge of upgrading how power is generated, along with needed improvements in electricity transmission and distribution, is being met in a variety of ways by an array of companies.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved quickly from the margins to the mainstream in electric utilities. Control room vendors promote AI-driven insights, asset platforms promise predictive intelligence, and most major utilities are running at least one pilot or proof of concept. More than 80% of North American utilities already report using AI in some form.

Energy provide Constellation said that Calpine LLC, a business unit of Constellation, has signed a new 380-MW agreement with Dallas, Texas-based CyrusOne, a global data center developer and operator, to connect and serve a new data center adjacent to the Freestone Energy Center in Freestone County, Texas.

Xcel Energy has moved to lock in supply and development capacity for what could become 6 GW of data center load through separate strategic agreements with GE Vernova and NextEra Energy, announced this week, that reserve five F-class gas turbines, multiple gigawatts of wind capacity, and joint development resources to support generation buildout into the […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 4, 2026 Microsoft Commits to Full Electricity Cost Recovery in Data Center Communities Microsoft has committed to “paying its way” to ensure its data centers will not ramp up residential utility rates, becoming the first major hyperscaler to publicly commit to […]

Virtual power plant operator Voltus and energy firm Octopus Energy will partner to aggregate residential flexibility across four major power markets—PJM, Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), New York, and California—to offer Flexibility-as-a-Service (FaaS) and Bring Your Own Capacity (BYOC) solutions. The effort will “help data centers, utilities, and grid operators manage accelerating AI-driven load growth,” […]

When it comes to the latest technologies, utilities aren’t exactly early adopters—with good reason. Silicon Valley’s motto of “move fast and break things” can have disastrous consequences when applied to an industry tasked with keeping the lights on around the clock for millions of Americans.

The AI boom is poised to fuel a rapid—and drastic—surge in electricity demand, placing unprecedented pressure on utilities to modernize their grids, integrate distributed energy resources, and reduce mounting supply chain and customer costs.

The North American electric grid faces intensifying reliability risks over the next decade as demand growth driven by data centers and artificial intelligence threatens to outpace resource additions, according to the 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment (LTRA) released Jan. 29 by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). The annual 10-year reliability assessment from North America’s Electric Reliability […]

For the U.S., keeping up with AI’s insatiable appetite is the biggest systemic risk of the next decade. America needs a massive expansion of power plants, transmission lines, and advanced hardware, while using AI itself to drive grid progress and optimize power distribution.

After more than two decades of relative stasis, electricity demand in the U.S. is expected to increase by 25% by 2030 and by more than 75% by 2050, compared to 2023—a transformation largely driven by the surge in new data centers needed to power the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

Microsoft has committed to “paying its way” to ensure its data centers will not ramp up residential utility rates, becoming the first major hyperscaler to publicly commit to a comprehensive framework that ties artificial intelligence (AI) data center growth to cost-recovery rate design. The hyperscaler also pledged to advance utility coordination, directly fund grid infrastructure, […]

Energy-generation permitting in the Mid-Atlantic continues to evolve in 2026 not through wholesale deregulation or uniform acceleration, but through procedural and permitting reform and the potential allocation of generation development authority to public utilities. States are enacting these changes to meet the reality of reliability concerns, transmission constraints, large load-growth, and to address frequent obstruction of energy projects by local government.

PJM Interconnection has trimmed its near-term peak-demand projections in its updated 20-year load forecast, citing tighter vetting of large-load adjustment requests and revised electric-vehicle (EV) and economic assumptions. The grid operator, however, reaffirmed expectations for significant long-term growth driven by data centers and broader electrification. In its 2026 Long-Term Load Forecast, issued on Jan. 14, PJM […]

A startup specializing in carbon-negative artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure powered by renewable energy systems has acquired the idled Buena Vista Biomass Power facility in Ione, California, and plans to convert the legacy wood-burning plant into a 41-MW “carbon-negative AI factory.” The redevelopment announced on Jan. 14, which New York-based NewYork GreenCloud (NYGC) is executing with […]