grid modernization

POWER breaks down the top insights from Data Center POWER eXchange, its unique one-day summit curated by POWER’s editorial team and convened to examine the collision between accelerating data center load and tightening grid constraints.  The rise of artificial intelligence is poised to create the fastest, largest, and most concentrated surge of electricity demand in […]

CyrusOne’s Jim Roche details how AI-driven workloads, high-density racks, and liquid cooling are transforming the data center–utility relationship. Only a decade ago, few in the power sector could have predicted that the digital economy’s engine—the data center—would become a central concern for utility planners, grid operators, and energy policymakers. For much of its history, data […]

Texas-based rapid-deployment power specialist VoltaGrid will deploy 2,300 MW of modular, ultra-low-emissions natural gas generation to support Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s (OCI’s) artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, backed by firm fuel from Energy Transfer’s 140,000-mile pipeline and storage network. Under the collaboration announced Oct. 15, VoltaGrid said its proprietary modular platform—featuring INNIO Jenbacher reciprocating engines and […]

America’s investor-owned electric companies are poised to deploy record-setting investment to launch one of the most aggressive infrastructure modernization campaigns in industry history in a bid to confront unprecedented electricity demand growth and prepare for a fundamentally transformed energy landscape. In total, over the next five years, the industry is poised to invest more than […]

I’m lucky to learn firsthand about some of the world’s most cutting-edge technologies. I’ve seen artificial intelligence ace an AP biology test, long before AI became an everyday tool. I’ve seen genetically modified mosquitoes that stop malaria in its tracks. I’ve seen geothermal wells that go 15,000 feet below the surface of the earth.   But […]

Faced with soaring demand and limited visibility into upstream grid assets, Karachi-based K-Electric engineered an in-house special protection system that delivers more than 600 MW of secure power imports to

U.S. power infrastructure—the intricate physical fabric that laces together generation, transmission, and distribution—is under intensifying strain. Outdated and overextended, it must now absorb relentless growth from electrification and data centers or risk escalating reliability threats, surging costs, and a weakened global competitive edge. POWER examines the dysfunction and what it will actually take to future-proof […]

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on May 7 told lawmakers that the Department of Energy (DOE) is entering what he called “a golden era of American energy dominance,” outlining the Trump administration’s strategy to prioritize fossil fuels, nuclear power, grid modernization, and permitting reform, while positioning the U.S. to lead in artificial intelligence (AI) […]

PJM, the largest grid operator in North America, has launched a multiyear partnership with tech giant Google and its Alphabet X moonshot Tapestry to streamline PJM’s grid interconnection process using artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The companies said the effort could significantly improve planning and decision-making as grid pressures intensify. Under the initiative, announced on April […]

As power plants confront aging infrastructure, surging demand, and the sweeping changes of rapid electrification, operations and maintenance (O&M) are being redefined to tackle unprecedented challenges and

As a significant final move before the incoming Trump administration takes office, the Biden administration has announced conditional loan commitments totaling $22.92 billion to support projects by eight utility companies across the U.S. The investments will seek to modernize infrastructure, expand clean energy generation, and improve grid reliability, impacting millions of customers, the Department of […]

Compared to recent years, which have been characterized by chronic energy shortages and price volatility, the world appears to be trundling toward a new energy market context, defined by an unprecedented

The Biden administration will invest $2.2 billion in eight projects under its Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership (GRIP) program to bolster the nation’s power grid with nearly 13 GW of new transmission capacity across 18 states. The funding, announced on Aug. 6, marks the second round under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) GRIP program, a […]

In a significant push toward modernizing America’s aging grid infrastructure, the Biden administration, in partnership with 21 states, has launched the Federal-State Modern Grid Deployment Initiative. The measure marks the latest triumph for transmission and distribution (T&D), which has seen “lumpy” progress in recent decades. The initiative unveiled on May 28 essentially seeks to establish […]

Tantalus Systems, a grid modernization technology company focused on helping utilities harness the power of data, said Bolivar Energy Authority (BEA) selected its Grid Modernization Platform (TGMP) to modernize the utility’s distribution grid. BEA serves Hardeman County and parts of Fayette, Chester, and Madison counties in Tennessee and part of Benton County in Mississippi. TGMP […]

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) will refurbish four units at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, Canada’s first major commercial generation plant— marking a major turnaround for the 3.1-GW plant slated to close by 2025. Officials from Ontario’s government and OPG on Jan. 30 announced plans to refurbish Units 5–8 at the massive power plant east of […]

Utilities around the world will embark over the next decade on grid modernization at a monumental scale. With grid resilience and reliability top of mind combined with ambitious decarbonization goals, smart

The power industry’s rapid adoption of digitalization is a striking example of its dynamic innovation—the continuous development and introduction of new ideas, products, or processes to meet shifting

The Biden administration has launched efforts to shape the $2.5 billion Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP), a key Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) initiative dedicated to building out critical new transmission lines and related facilities across the country. The Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office on May 10 issued a joint notice of information (NOI) […]

Bolstering the Biden administration’s recently announced initiatives to modernize the nation’s grid and improve its resilience, the Department of Energy (DOE) on April 27 made up to $8.25 billion in loans available to expand transmission capacity nationwide, while the Department of Transportation (DOT) offered new guidance to help speed the siting and permitting of transmission […]

A major chunk of President Joe Biden’s $2.25 trillion transformational plan to overhaul the nation’s infrastructure is dedicated to re-energizing America’s power infrastructure. The initiatives garnered the industry’s approval—with notable exceptions. The “American Jobs Plan,” released on March 31, strives to jumpstart the U.S. economy, which drooped under burdens posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. But […]

Blockchain—a distributed database technology that allows a network of parties to securely transact with each other—has been hailed as a game-changing innovation in the power sector for its potential to

Twenty-three projects chosen by the Department of Energy (DOE) in response to its 2019 Grid Modernization Lab Call provide a broad look at the critical issues that are roiling the nation’s power sector, as well as the tools and technologies that it has determined will best bolster the grid of the future in the near […]

Despite higher taxable income and pressure on balance sheets, capital spending by regulated utilities will remain elevated—and much of it will be dedicated to replacing aging infrastructure, hardening or efficiency-boosting measures, and on renewables and environmental projects, said Moody’s Investors Service in a recent sectoral briefing.  The credit ratings agency for the first time this […]

Purse-string holders are pretty easily swayed to approve funding to upgrade transmission and distribution systems following major events like Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene. However, it is becoming

Even in the absence of climate policy, customer adoption of electric end-use technologies over the next 30 years is expected to spur steady growth in energy consumption, a new report assessing U.S. electrification from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) suggests. The April 3–released report, “U.S. National Electrification Assessment,” is based on findings by EPRI’s […]

A new grid modernization blueprint released by the Department of Energy (DOE) on January 14 seeks to integrate conventional and renewable power sources with energy storage and efficiency measures, while ensuring the grid is resilient against cyberattacks and climate change threats. The DOE said that the plan will help “frame new grid architecture design elements, […]