data centers

For most of the last two decades, the anxiety in power planning was about demand: would consumption grow fast enough to justify new capacity, and how would an aging fleet keep pace? That question has inverted. Demand is no longer the uncertain variable—it is the one thing forecasters are confident about. The uncertainty now sits […]

Developers and contractors at a recent event described how the generation buildout is forcing earlier engineering, procurement, and construction contractor involvement; deeper supply-chain tracking; repeatable

The conversation around electrification often centers on power generation and the grid capacity needed to support a more energy-intensive future. But an equally pressing challenge is emerging inside the

Integrate high-load data centers and renewable energy without compromising grid reliability. Grid reliability hinges on the flexibility identified, managed, and optimized by operational technology (OT). The

Advanced nuclear firm Aalo Atomics has formed a strategic partnership with energy-first AI infrastructure company Crusoe to develop a nuclear-powered “AI Factory” data center in a project that will combine Aalo’s advanced reactor development program at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) with Crusoe’s modular AI data center platform. The companies said on July 30 that under […]

A coalition led by Brookfield and NextEra Energy has unveiled plans to build a $100 billion, privately funded artificial intelligence (AI) data center campus at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Paducah Site in Western Kentucky, paired with up to 4.6 GW of dedicated new power generation that will be built and paid for solely to serve […]

Energy Vault, a global energy infrastructure company that supports power grid reliability and next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing infrastructure, on July 27 announced that construction has commenced at its powered AI infrastructure campus in Snyder, Texas, for Crusoe Cloud.

Congress and the White House advanced parallel tracks this week to keep large data centers from shifting their grid costs onto electricity customers, reflecting a concern that has gathered momentum among state regulators, consumer advocates, and members of both parties. On July 21, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 52-0 to advance the Ratepayer Protection […]

Why Generative Engine Optimization Is the Next Reputation Management Secret Weapon for Energy Brands Energy has become a kitchen-table issue. Bills are climbing. Data centers are being built at a breakneck pace, and new technologies are being launched faster than ever before, often facing NIMBY concerns. As customers and stakeholders look for answers, they may […]

The explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) computing is, for most utilities, a problem to be absorbed: gigawatts of new data-center demand arriving faster than transmission can be planned or built. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Genesis Mission does not dispute that framing. But buried in the national research portfolio it unveiled July 22 is […]

A micro-modular nuclear reactor developer with global headquarters in Italy and a U.S. corporate office in Pennsylvania said it has been selected to deploy its equipment for data center infrastructure in Latin America and Brazil.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has directed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to file one or more new or modified mandatory reliability standards governing the integration of computational loads—a category defined broadly enough to cover generative-AI data centers, cryptocurrency mines, and other information-technology facilities—by Dec. 31, 2026. FERC’s order, issued on July […]

Why AI Data Centers Can No Longer Be Treated as Passive Customers For decades, even very large electric customers fit inside a familiar planning model. A factory, refinery, industrial campus, hospital complex, hospital system, or manufacturing facility requested service. The utility studied the load, identified required facilities, assigned costs, and folded the demand into its […]

Tom Linebarger, the new CEO at Mainspring Energy who spent 30 years at Cummins, where he also served as CEO, provides POWER with insight about Mainspring and why the time is right for adoption of Mainspring’s linear generator technology.

The U.S. Department of Energy has closed a loan of up to $3.26 billion to AEP Texas to finance a portfolio of nearly 100 transmission projects, the agency’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) said on July 8. The financing will fund the rebuilding, reconductoring, and new construction of roughly 2,800 miles of transmission lines across […]

Join energy leaders in the Space Solar Power Symposium at Experience POWER 2026 in Washington, D.C. A few weeks ago, while opening a panel on Space Solar Power (SSP) at SF Climate Week 2026 co-hosted by the Space Frontier Foundation and the Young Professionals in Energy, Bay Area, I asked the audience a simple question: […]

Fuel cell systems developer Bloom Energy and investment firm Brookfield said the companies are expanding their partnership agreement and increasing their project financing to $25 billion. The companies initially announced a $5-billion partnership deal in October of last year.

Aalo Atomics’ Aalo-X Critical Test Reactor (CTR)—dubbed “Project First Light”—has reached criticality at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), marking the fourth Department of Energy (DOE)–authorized advanced reactor startup under the federal push to accelerate reactor testing and demonstration. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said July 6 that Aalo’s test reactor, which DOE referred to as […]

A milder reliability assessment, 58 GW of new resources, and softening load forecasts have eased the near-term mood. Analysts and executives warn the breathing room is borrowed time. For the first time in

Brian Kemp is a Republican. Katie Hobbs is a Democrat. The governor of Georgia campaigns on tax cuts and a growth agenda; the governor of Arizona calls herself a social worker who came to the job from a

At a recent energy conference, power sector stakeholders agreed the looming fleet of hyperscale data centers will require vast amounts of clean, firm capacity. But while nuclear looks like the most plausible

X-energy Advances 6-GW Nuclear Partnership With UK’s Centrica. Advanced nuclear reactor developer X-energy on June 2 said it submitted an application for the UK’s Generic Design Assessment (GDA)—the

Data center developers have mastered server density and cooling, but power interconnection remains stubbornly slow. Modular substations built in factories rather than fields are emerging as the most practical

For much of the past decade, the climate and energy debate has been fixated on how electricity is generated: which technologies are cheapest on paper, how renewables can scale fastest, which breakthrough is

Artificial intelligence (AI) has overturned the long-stable trajectory of U.S. electricity demand. After decades of flat growth, planners and regulators now face a surge driven by hyperscale data

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has voted unanimously to issue tailored show-cause orders under Section 206 of the Federal Power Act to each of the six regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) under its jurisdiction, directing them to either defend or reform tariff rules governing how data centers, manufacturing facilities, and […]

The electricity conversation in America has become increasingly focused on one question: How do we meet rising demand? The surge in artificial intelligence, data centers, electrification, and domestic manufacturing is placing unprecedented pressure on the grid. The industry’s response has largely centered on adding supply, such as building more generation, expanding transmission, and accelerating new […]

Elevate Infrastructure and ArcLight Capital Partners on June 11 announced the companies have begun operating the 150-MW/600-MWh Prospect Power battery energy storage project in Rockingham County, Virginia.

For ages, diesel generators have sat behind hospitals and on campuses waiting to do one job: provide power for a few hours each year when the lights inexplicably go out. Today, the narrative is changing—and fast. When U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright wrote to the nation’s grid operators on Jan. 22, 2026, asking them […]

Google and Intersect, a clean energy developer Google acquired in March 2026, have launched construction on the Meitner Energy Center, a co-located data center and generation complex in the Texas Panhandle that will integrate more than 1 GW of wind, solar, and battery storage with on-site gas-fired generation for reliability firming. The project is located […]