POWERnews

Energy solutions and products companies LG Energy Solution Vertech and Qcells said they have joined in a multi-year commitment to install energy storage for Qcells’ development projects across the U.S.

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,” […]

Global energy company GE Vernova announced the launch of another offering in the group’s GridBeats portfolio, which features software-defined automation solutions designed to modernize electrical grids by improving resilience, efficiency, and flexibility.

Vema Hydrogen, developer of a low-cost and clean hydrogen production technology known as Engineered Mineral Hydrogen, said the company has completed drilling its first two pilot wells in Quebec, Canada. The milestone marks completion of the world’s first Engineered Mineral Hydrogen pilot wells, according to the company. 

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.

Xylem Inc., a global water solutions company, announced the launch of Sensus Evolve, its new intelligent grid platform designed to help electric utilities gain deeper insight, act faster, and adapt to a rapidly changing energy landscape.

An international nuclear power services company has confirmed it plans to submit an application to build new generation capacity at a long-closed nuclear power plant in Wisconsin.

Smart adaptation strategies will keep U.S. renewables on track in 2026 amid turbulent landscape. In 2025, the U.S. renewable energy market demonstrated its resilience. Despite setbacks ranging from weather and climate disasters, global trade tensions, and the termination of tax credit eligibility, 92% of new power capacity added to the grid in 2025 came from […]

A group dedicated to supporting private broadband networks for critical infrastructure, including the power generation sector, is marking five years of accelerating private broadband adoption to enable power grid modernization.

Sense, a company focused on grid edge intelligence, has announced a new edge-powered Fault Detection Solution that is embedded directly into next-generation smart meters.

GigaWatt Inc. is making its next phase of growth available to public investors as the residential solar market faces a critical inflection point.

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.

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 29, 2026 NERC Warns Long-Term Grid Reliability Risks Mounting from Surging Demand, Lagging Resources 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 […]

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 […]

By positioning satellites significantly closer to Earth, LEO networks deliver high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity that makes connection speed at an offshore platform or remote location, just as fast and secure as you will find at corporate headquarters.

Operators of aging F-class units face a narrowing window to plan for rotor life extensions as supply chains tighten and demand surges. The late 1990s and early 2000s marked a frenetic period in American power generation. Deregulation opened the floodgates for independent power producers racing to bring quick-build gas turbine plants online. GE’s 7FA and […]

U.S.-based technology company Baker Hughes said it has a strategic technology solutions and equity agreement with energy storage group Hydrostor. The deal between the companies, announced January 28, integrates Baker Hughes’ technology as part of Hydrostor’s core design offering for the latter’s advanced compressed air energy storage, or A-CAES, solution.

Luminace has announced the acquisition of a 9.3-MWdc portfolio of community solar projects from Renewable Properties (RP), a leading U.S. developer and investor in small-scale utility, community solar, energy storage, and electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure projects.

Among the companies working on advanced geothermal tech is Rodatherm Energy Corp., a privately held company with a primary focus on the Great Basin region in the Western U.S. The Utah-based company, which also has operations in Calgary, Alberta in Canada, is known for its pioneering Advanced Geothermal System (AGS).

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, […]

Developers of a new pumped storage hydropower installation in Washington state said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued an operating license for the project. Rye Development, a U.S.-based developer of pumped storage hydropower, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), on behalf of its Flagship Fund CI V, on January 22 said FERC gave the […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Type One Energy and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville are partnering to establish a world-class facility that will drive American innovation and move fusion energy closer to reality. This high-heat flux (HHF) facility, located at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Bull Run Energy Complex in East Tennessee, will evaluate how materials react under extreme conditions in a fusion device.

Integrating distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar, wind, batteries, and electric vehicles into the power grid is an important part of the energy transition. Utilities and transmission system operators know they need more flexibility when it comes to power generation and delivery, which involves modernizing infrastructure, using advanced controls, and developing new market rules to manage two-way power flow.

The distribution transformer manufacturer’s first plant west of the Mississippi River will add three-phase production capacity to address ongoing supply constraints. Distribution transformer manufacturer ERMCO announced Jan. 21 it will open a new manufacturing facility in Maricopa County, Arizona—the company’s first expansion west of the Mississippi River. The 566,121-square-foot plant in Waddell, approximately 30 miles […]

In recent years, the artificial intelligence (AI) landscape has shifted from quiet curiosity to relentless noise. Conference taglines, vendor solicitations, and slide decks all seem to begin with the same question: What can AI do for you? And too often the answer comes in the form of a catalog of hundreds of “use cases,” neatly […]

Chicago-based Switched Source reported a 60% increase in deployments of its Phase-EQ grid-enhancing technology (Figure 1) over the past year, with units now operating across more than 10 utility service areas from Alaska to Florida. The company’s Phase-EQ device dynamically balances power between phases on distribution circuits, addressing load imbalances that limit how much capacity […]

Rayburn Electric Cooperative faced three years of power costs in five days during the 2021 storm. The experience transformed the organization’s approach to risk, generation assets, and long-term planning. When Winter Storm Uri swept across Texas in February 2021, Rayburn Electric Cooperative found itself staring down a crisis that would reshape the organization’s entire operational […]

NKT has finalized contracts with SSEN Transmission for two high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission links in Scotland, the company announced January 19. The projects, valued at approximately €2 billion combined, represent the largest contract award in SSEN Transmission’s history. The Danish cable manufacturer will deliver turnkey 525-kV HVDC power cable systems for the Western Isles and […]