Generation

  • Steam rising from a power plant with construction equipment in the foreground.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Gerville via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip
    Opinion

    How AI data centers can support grid reliability in Texas and across the US

    An Enhanced Reliability Interconnection framework would prioritize connections to the grid for large loads that improve reliability through flexibility and behind-the-meter generation.

    By Gideon Powell and Josh T. Smith • April 22, 2025
  • An industrial complex with three smokestacks in a rural setting.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Courtesy of GE Vernova
    Image attribution tooltip

    FERC approves PJM capacity auction price cap, floor

    The PJM Interconnection’s next two base capacity auctions will have a $325/MW-day price cap and a $175/MW-day floor.

    By • April 22, 2025
  • An aerial photo of a coal-fired power station in the Midwest.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Kent Raney via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip

    Clean energy groups urge FERC to reject MISO interconnection plan for replacing retiring power plants

    However, Alliant Energy, other utilities and state utility regulators support the proposal to create a new pathway for connecting replacement generation to the grid.

    By • April 21, 2025
  • Aerial View of Coal-Fired Power Station in Winter.
    Image attribution tooltip
    AerialPerspective Works via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip

    Cold-weather grid performance improves, plus 4 other FERC open meeting takeaways

    Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Mark Christie defended the PJM Interconnection amid an uproar over its capacity market.

    By • April 18, 2025
  • Steam rises from a power plant with construction equipment in the foreground.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Gerville via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip
    Opinion

    The US is facing unprecedented load growth. Here’s how we ensure resource adequacy.

    Adding sufficient resources fast enough to reliably meet the growth will require an array of demand- and supply-side resources as well as stronger transmission interconnection planning.

    By Samuel Newell • April 17, 2025
  • donald trump signs an executive order at his desk
    Image attribution tooltip
    Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip

    Trump administration ordered to resume IRA funding

    The decision, which stated federal agencies lacked authority to pause funding, follows the president’s executive order to freeze the money on his first day in office. 

    By Kate Magill • April 17, 2025
  • A rendering of the GE Hitachi BWRX300 small modular reactor.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Retrieved from GE Hitachi.
    Image attribution tooltip

    SMRs, not large reactors, are ‘future of nuclear power’: ITIF

    Small reactors could become a key U.S. export if DOE expands support for advanced nuclear technology and the federal government aligns regulations with friendly countries, the think tank said.

    By Brian Martucci • April 16, 2025
  • Georgia Power's Plant Bowen units during a period of inactivity.
    Image attribution tooltip
    The image by Sam Nash is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
    Image attribution tooltip

    Trump exempts more than a third of US coal capacity from updated mercury, air toxics rule

    Power plant owners receiving the largest exemptions are Southern Co., at about 11,285 MW; NRG Energy, at about 7,100 MW; and the Tennessee Valley Authority, at about 6,660 MW.

    By • Updated April 17, 2025
  • Four cooling towers stand under a bright sun at a nuclear power plant.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Courtesy of Constellation Energy
    Image attribution tooltip

    New nuclear power could meet 10% of projected data center demand increase by 2035: Deloitte

    The April 9 analysis presumes robust deployments over the next 10 years enabled by design, manufacturing and project management innovations that drive down deployment costs.

    By Brian Martucci • April 15, 2025
  • A power plant next to the coast.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Joesboy via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip

    FERC should order PJM to rerun last capacity auction: ratepayer advocates

    Separately, Manu Asthana, PJM Interconnection president and CEO, plans to step down from his job at the end of this year, the grid operator said Monday.

    By • April 15, 2025
  • An aerial view of a coal-fired power plant with three smokestacks next to a lake.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Kent Raney via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip
    Opinion

    The power industry must oppose Trump’s coal bailout ... again

    The executive order threatens to conflict with existing methods for accrediting generators, assessing resource adequacy, securing sufficient generation and setting wholesale prices. It’s also illegal.

    By Ari Peskoe • April 11, 2025
  • Concrete cooling tower at a nuclear power plant.
    Image attribution tooltip
    steverts via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip

    DOE agrees to give HALEU to 5 advanced nuclear companies

    DOE’s willingness to dip into its own high-assay, low-enriched uranium stockpiles shows it’s serious about supporting next-generation nuclear technology, Nuclear Innovation Alliance Senior Analyst Erik Cothron told Utility Dive.

    By Brian Martucci • April 11, 2025
  • Solar panels spread across a green field.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Courtesy of Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative
    Image attribution tooltip

    EIA expects more solar capacity, higher power prices

    U.S. solar capacity will double in just four years, to 182 GW in 2026, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Thursday.

    By • April 11, 2025
  • A construction site with two cranes.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Gerville via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip
    Opinion

    The AI infrastructure race hits a political reality check

    The AI-driven data center boom has created demand for land, electricity and water, a dynamic that has spawned growing opposition from communities, utility grid operators and regulators.

    By Joe Brettell and Jeff Berkowitz • April 10, 2025
  • FERC headquarters
    Image attribution tooltip
    Permission granted by Esme Howland
    Image attribution tooltip

    Trump directs FERC, other agencies to add 5-year sunsets to energy-related regulations

    The executive order is “impossible to implement [and] blatantly illegal,” according to Harvard Law School’s Ari Peskoe.

    By • April 10, 2025
  • Rows of undulating solar panels in a field.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Jason Doiy via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip

    PJM, Google partner to speed grid interconnection using AI

    The initiative aims to integrate dozens of PJM interconnection-related databases and tools into a unified model of PJM’s network, helping to bring power supplies online faster.

    By • April 10, 2025
  • A gravel lot in a field with industrial equipment.
    Image attribution tooltip
    drnadig via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip

    Liberty Energy to deploy modular gas-fired ‘power blocks’ at Pennsylvania industrial site

    The rapidly deployable systems could support a scalable data center or other large-load industrial client using fuel sourced from the surrounding Marcellus Shale, the company said.

    By Brian Martucci • April 9, 2025
  • Fort Martin power station on the banks of the Monongahela river.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Backyard Production via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip

    Trump aims to boost coal, in part by ordering power plants to stay open

    However, the executive orders will likely have little effect on coal-fired generation, according to analysts.

    By • April 9, 2025
  • Newly-installed solar panels face the sky at the construction site of a new solar energy park as wind turbines spin behind in Germany.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Sean Gallup via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip

    Wind and solar generation overtook coal in the US last year: report

    While U.S. coal generation has been falling, natural gas surged to set new consumption records, according to climate think tank Ember.

    By • April 8, 2025
  • A partly built gas-fired power plant with yellow cranes.
    Image attribution tooltip
    Aaron Yoder via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip

    Utilities, state regulators urge FERC to approve MISO’s fast-track interconnection plan

    However, independent power producers, former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission members and others said it favors incumbent utilities and should be rejected.

    By • April 8, 2025
  • ge-vernova
    Image attribution tooltip
    Courtesy of GE Vernova
    Image attribution tooltip

    US electricity demand will grow 50% by 2050, electrical manufacturer study finds

    Data centers and transportation electrification will drive U.S. electricity demand about 2% higher each year for the next quarter century, according to a new analysis completed for the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.

    By • April 7, 2025
  • Rear aerial view of of a data center being constructed in Ashburn, VA
    Image attribution tooltip
    Gerville via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip

    LS Power eyes 300-MW colocated data center at Virginia power plant

    The plan raises reliability and cost allocation issues, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday.

    By • April 7, 2025
  • Wind farm turbines stand on a green bluff.
    Image attribution tooltip
    milehightraveler via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip

    SPP to rely on demand response to help bridge shrinking power supplies: CEO Nickell

    “Excess generating capacity is dwindling, and it's dwindling to a point where it's becoming dangerous,” the Southwest Power Pool’s Lanny Nickell said Thursday.

    By • April 4, 2025
  • Electric transmission lines running through the woods to a power plant in the distance.
    Image attribution tooltip
    The image by Andre Carrotflower is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
    Image attribution tooltip

    Largest US gas-fired power plant planned for data centers in Pennsylvania

    The 4.5-GW, $10 billion project at the former Homer City coal-fired power plant could start operating by 2027, according to the project’s developers.

    By • April 3, 2025
  • A group of wind turbines and an electrical substation.
    Image attribution tooltip
    NanoStockk via Getty Images
    Image attribution tooltip
    Opinion

    A market-based path to unlocking interconnection queues

    When a scarce resource like grid access is given away administratively rather than allocated based on economic value, the result is always the same: inefficiency, congestion and delays.

    By Terry Harvill and August Ankum • April 2, 2025