AI

  • DOE’s ‘Genesis Mission’ Enlists AI to Double U.S. Research Productivity in a Decade

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the “Genesis Mission,” a national effort to build an integrated artificial intelligence (AI) platform across its 17 national laboratories. According to The White House, the initiative will “accelerate scientific discovery, strengthen national security, secure energy dominance, enhance workforce productivity, and multiply the return on taxpayer investment into […]

  • The Next Wave in Hydropower Condition Monitoring

    The hydropower industry stands at a critical juncture where traditional operation and maintenance are quickly becoming obsolete. As global energy demand surges and grid systems become increasingly dynamic, hydropower operators face unprecedented challenges in maintaining optimal machine performance under variable operating conditions while at the same time managing aging infrastructure and reduced staffing levels. Not […]

  • The Long Arc of Efficiency: What Refrigerators Teach Us About the Future of AI Data Centers

    As AI demand accelerates, the race is on to bend the power curve before it bends the grid. The first electric refrigerators were mechanical curiosities—loud, bulky appliances that consumed staggering amounts of electricity. But they spread anyway, because the productivity gains were too great to ignore. Daily habits shifted. Food systems reshaped. Household labor changed […]

  • Powering the AI Revolution: Why the Energy Race Is the AI Race

    The power of U.S. innovation and market incentives cannot be underestimated. The convergence of a business-driven energy transition and the explosive growth of artificial intelligence (AI) have exposed a critical bottleneck within our energy grid.

  • The Five Layers of AI Safeguarding the Utility Industry

    By utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, smart cybersecurity systems are helping to bolster the utility industry’s defenses. AI-powered cybersecurity is powerful because it enhances overall resilience to sophisticated cyber threats by providing real-time threat detection and response capabilities. And at a time when these threats are becoming more prolific and sophisticated, defenders need every advantage they can get.

  • Emerson Addresses Power Industry’s AI-Driven Demand Surge

    The power industry is experiencing unprecedented demand growth, driven largely by data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. This surge is creating both opportunities and challenges for utilities, equipment manufacturers, and the broader power generation ecosystem. As a guest on The POWER Podcast, Seth Harris, growth director for Emerson’s Power business in North America, discussed […]

  • How AI Is Breathing New Life into Aging Coal-Fired Power Assets

    For years, some folks have considered coal-fired power plants relics of a bygone era, overshadowed by the rise of natural gas and renewables. Yet, in an unexpected twist, coal is finding its way back into the

  • Power Play: Takeaways from Westinghouse, Google AI Partnership

    Westinghouse has partnered with Google Cloud to develop a custom AI-powered platform using specialized models from both Google and Westinghouse—itself a leader in AI for energy production—that helps optimize and accelerate reactor construction.

  • Blackstone Investing $1.2 Billion for 600-MW Gas-Fired Plant in West Virginia

    Global investment group and asset manager Blackstone said it will support construction of a 600-MW combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant in West Virginia. The Wolf Summit Energy facility, which will feature GE Vernova equipment, is affiliated with Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, which serves about 1.5 million customers across three states.

  • How Artificial Intelligence Can Unlock the Next Level of Energy Flexibility

    Flexibility has become a defining characteristic of the future of our energy system. As distributed energy resources surge, electric vehicles (EVs) proliferate, and demand patterns shift, the ability to manage demand in real time is as critical as our capacity to generate. But achieving this level of adaptability requires more than just upgraded infrastructure; it […]

  • Frugal AI’s Energy Reckoning: Why Efficiency Isn’t Enough

    The story of artificial intelligence (AI) is often told in the language of speed and efficiency. Every quarter brings claims of models that run faster and cost less. Yet behind the glossy benchmarks lies a more sobering truth: the appetite for AI is growing so quickly that even the most impressive efficiency gains cannot keep […]

  • Power Quality in the AI Era: Solving for Subharmonics

    Data center operators are keenly aware that securing access to the grid is job number one on their to-do list. But the extraordinary demand placed on the grid by artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) has another concern rapidly ascending the list: power quality. While data centers running traditional workloads have largely solved for […]

  • Energy Sector Teaching AI How to Grow Up

    When artificial intelligence (AI) manages a power grid, it cannot operate as a black box. A wrong decision will not just frustrate users, it will trigger a blackout. This critical nature of AI deployments in energy is forcing AI to mature faster in energy than in any other sector. When algorithmic decisions affect high-stakes systems […]

  • AI’s Growing Appetite: What the Grid Needs to Keep Up

    The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t just transforming industries; it is also transforming the energy grid. Behind every AI breakthrough lies a massive surge in computing power, and with it, an unprecedented demand for reliable and affordable electricity. As the U.S. positions itself for continued technological leadership, meeting the energy needs of AI data […]

  • Bridging the AI Gap for Energy Utilities

    The energy industry is in a bit of a technological whirlwind. Climate-related disruption and shifting adaptation requirements inject alarming levels of uncertainty into traditional business models, while a surge in amazing engineering breakthroughs and innovations simultaneously present irresistible opportunities for enhanced efficacy and resilience.

  • Energy: The Most Critical 7% of America’s GDP

    The true engine of America’s economy might surprise you. It’s not tech. It’s not artificial intelligence, finance, or manufacturing. It’s energy. Energy accounts for just 7% of America’s gross domestic product (GDP), but, as former FERC Chair Mark Christie put it, “it’s the foundational 7% … everything else in our economy and lifestyle flows from it.”

  • AI’s Energy Hunger Demands an All-of-the-Above Strategy

    Here’s a fundamental truth: there is no AI without energy. And as the technology grows, its demand for energy, and carbon footprint, may never again be as small as it is today. Against this backdrop, debates over which energy source should power AI miss the point. AI’s appetite for energy—relative to what the grid has […]

  • POWER Digest [October 2025]

    Two business conglomerates with interests across Asia announced a partnership to build six geothermal power plants in Indonesia.

  • Blackstone Acquires Gas-Fired Plant in Pennsylvania in $1 Billion Deal

    Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, said its energy-focused private equity business has a deal to buy the 620-MW natural gas-fired Hill Top Energy Center in Pennsylvania. The agreement announced September 15 will see Blackstone Energy Transition Partners acquire the power station from Ardian, a global private investment firm. Blackstone officials said the purchase […]

  • Why Power Plants Need AI That Engineers Can Trust

    America’s power producers face growing pressure to do more with less. A rapidly evolving grid, increasing demand, aging infrastructure, and policy uncertainty have created a system where traditional approaches to reliability are no longer enough. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) recently issued its 2025 RISC report, highlighting the leading risks facing America’s power […]

  • Eaton Offers Solution to Detect AI-Related Load Spikes for Power

    Intelligent power management company Eaton said it has launched technology for identifying large fluctuations in energy demand from artificial intelligence (AI) computing infrastructure. The edge-based solution, available via a firmware update for its Eaton Power Xpert quality (PXQ) event analysis system, helps detect AI power bursts, including potential subsynchronous oscillations (SSO) in data centers. The […]

  • Baker Hughes, CTR Have Agreements for 500 MW of Geothermal in California

    Baker Hughes, an energy technology company, and Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) have entered into definitive agreements to collaborate on the development of up to 500 MW of baseload geothermal power at CTR’s Hell’s Kitchen project in Imperial County, California. The staged development, announced September 9, will deliver baseload geothermal energy at scale, providing reliable power […]

  • Preparing Energy Storage Technology to Support Data Center Power Demands

    The increasing power demands of data centers are adding urgency to grid resiliency and renewable energy projects. Data center electricity use is expected to grow 300% by 2035 as hyperscale cloud computing companies race to adopt new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). Renewable energy and microgrid solutions will play an essential role in the digitalized and electrified future.

  • How Advanced Monitoring and Early Warning Tools Are Revolutionizing Power Plant Cooling Water Intake Management

    Thermal power plants, nuclear and fossil-fueled, rely on cooling water intake structures (CWIS) to withdraw water for rejecting waste heat. The CWIS serves as a critical interface between engineered systems and the natural environment, making it vulnerable to various external factors such as biological growth, water chemistry changes, hydraulic forces, drifting debris, and meteorologic events. […]

  • Modernization Is the Onramp to Emerging Technologies

    As complexity rises across the power industry, modern control systems are becoming the foundation for next-generation solutions. By embracing automation, simulation, and artificial intelligence (AI)-ready

  • Managing AI’s Heat: Advanced Liquid Cooling Systems and the Instrumentation That Supports Them

    Efficient liquid cooling supported by reliable instrumentation is essential for data centers to handle increased capacity demands in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and other heavy compute applications. The landscape of data processing has undergone a seismic shift recently, with today’s artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) applications requiring computational power at a […]

  • AI and the Grid: Smarter Paths to Renewable Integration and Grid Modernization

    According to the U.S. Department of Energy, more than 70% of the nation’s grid transmission lines and transformers are more than 25 years old, straining under the pressures of rising electrification and renewable integration. As power producers, utilities, and grid operators push toward decarbonization targets, the need for more intelligent, responsive, and resilient grid infrastructure […]

  • Pacifico Energy Building Massive Gas, Energy Storage Project to Serve Texas Data Centers

    An energy infrastructure company said it’s moving forward with the GW Ranch project, an off-grid complex in Texas that will combine natural gas-fired generation and battery energy storage to provide nearly 7 GW of power in Pecos County. The campus, sited on more than 8,000 acres, is designed “to support hyperscale data centers and the […]

  • AI and the Energy Transition: Building a Smarter, Decarbonized Energy System

    Solar energy generation from a rooftop panel system can be monitored quickly and easily, an example of how artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools are empowering businesses to optimize energy use and contribute to a decentralized, decarbonized grid. The energy transition is accelerating. Electrification is surging, renewable power generation is expanding and energy consumption patterns […]

  • Transforming Energy Finance Through AI-Driven Processes

    The power and utility sector underpins every part of modern life, from residential comfort to industrial productivity. Yet, as the global energy landscape evolves, so must the internal operations that keep these organizations running. COMMENTARY With total U.S. power use expected to reach around 4,189 billion kWh in 2025, and 4,278 billion kWh in 2026, […]