Load Management, Efficiency & Demand Response


  • Amazon fulfillment center Will County Illinois
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    Big, power-ready facilities drive industrial real estate market

    Companies are looking for modern facilities that can accommodate power-hungry automation, industrial experts said in a report first provided to Facilities Dive.

    By Joe Burns • June 8, 2026
  • USGBC, interactive map of LEED stadiums, Levi's Stadium, energy-efficient sports stadiums
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    Clayton Jones Images via Getty Images
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    Can stadiums be energy efficient? USGBC map shows that many of them are

    The U.S. Green Building Council has conferred LEED status on 31 stadiums in North America, from the 9,500-seat Southwest University Park in El Paso, Texas, to the 88,000-seat Estadio Banorte in Mexico City.  

    By Robert Freedman • June 8, 2026
  • Trendline

    Energy Efficiency

    With hostilities between the U.S., Israel and Iran driving up global energy prices and a surge in domestic electricity demand from large-load data centers, manufacturing and electrification, efficiency could play a key role in meeting that demand as economically as possible. 

    By Utility Dive staff
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    WINEXA via Getty Images
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    Sponsored by KUBRA

    The benefits of a unified billing, payment, communications platform

    One platform. Fewer silos. Better billing and payment experiences for utilities and customers.

    June 8, 2026
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    Rising load growth reshapes cooperative portfolios and strategy

    Large loads pose additional challenges for cooperatives. Planning strategically is critical.

    By Albert Gabberty, Burns & McDonnell • June 8, 2026
  • The Bronco Plains II wind farm in Kit Carson County, Colorado.
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    Courtesy of Holy Cross Energy
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    Colorado co-op delivers 100% renewables in March, a first

    Holy Cross Energy CEO Bryan Hannegan said the utility plans to expand its programs for smart electrification and demand flexibility, and selectively add new flexible renewable resources.

    By June 4, 2026
  • An array of solar panels with transmission lines in a desert.
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    Ethan Miller via Getty Images
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    Customer experience, better modeling can boost demand-side portfolio: report

    The Brattle Group’s report lays out a framework for increasing demand-side resources to mitigate the impacts of load growth, variable renewables and distributed electrification.

    By Brian Martucci • June 3, 2026
  • Electric vehicles recharge
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    Mario Tama via Getty Images
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    Google to fund 100-MW virtual power plant in PJM in ‘first-of-its-kind’ deal

    Google has worked to make its data centers flexible, the company’s global head of data center energy told Utility Dive, but it’s often faster and more cost effective to pay other customers to shift their electricity usage.

    By June 3, 2026
  • A giant sign reading EEI
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    Meris Lutz/Utility Dive
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    What’s on the mind of EEI conference attendees? Labor, AI, affordability and more.

    Utility Dive talked to registrants before the conference to hear how industry changes are impacting their work.

    By June 2, 2026
  • data centers, heat emissions, thermal plumes, ASU, David Sailor, nearby neighborhoods
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    George Frey / Stringer via Getty Images
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    Data centers can raise temperatures, energy burdens in nearby neighborhoods: ASU study

    Each one-degree increase in temperature will drive a higher use of air conditioning, which in turn will put more heat into the area, creating “a feedback loop,” researchers concluded.

    By Robert Freedman • June 2, 2026
  • Customers inspect refrigerators at a store.
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    Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
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    DOE issues guidance ending gas-to-electric appliance rebates

    The Department of Energy will instead allow rebates for “upgrading HVAC and appliances only from existing electric equipment to more efficient electric equipment.”

    By June 2, 2026
  • Person using tablet with smart home control functions.
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    Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Access to real-time electricity data should be a basic consumer right

    The technology exists and the infrastructure is there. What is missing is a requirement that customers have access to data on their electricity use, writes Joel Hicks at the University of Oregon.

    By Joel Hicks • June 1, 2026
  • A person stands at a podium with the seal of the Philadelphia mayor, surrounded by other people.
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    Permission granted by Philadelphia City Council
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    Philadelphia clean energy campaign turned millions invested into billions saved. Here’s how.

    By blending public and private financing, green banking and a coalition of labor, housing and community partners, the city generated 11,000 jobs and $1.4 billion in energy savings — with minimal federal dollars, an economic impact report found.

    By Robyn Griggs Lawrence • June 1, 2026
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    Permission granted by Edo
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    Sponsored by Edo

    How utilities can add capacity in months, not years

    For utilities managing surging electricity demand, a scalable, non-wires approach to expanding grid capacity can be deployed in just a few months.

    June 1, 2026
  • A photo from above showing construction of Fervo Energy's Cape Station geothermal project in Beaver County, Utah.
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    Courtesy of Fervo Energy
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    Large-load customers can help commercialize new clean energy technology: CEBA

    “In a lot of the partnerships that have been established around some of these technologies, it's really the tech companies that are taking on a lot of the risk,” Priya Barua, CEBA's senior director of utility partnerships and innovation, told Utility Dive.

    By May 29, 2026
  • Trappe Rock Substation, a Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative substation in Ashburn, Va.
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    Diana DiGangi/Utility Dive
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    Virginia senator suggests SCC judge recuse herself from NextEra-Dominion merger

    The state senator also objects to the merger itself, calling it “extremely concerning” in an environment of “rising utility bills and unprecedented grid expansion costs driven largely by hyperscale data center growth.”

    By May 28, 2026
  • Data center development in Loudoun County, Virginia.
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    Diana DiGangi/Utility Dive
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    Demand management, data center flexibility boost regional reliability: NERC

    The reliability watchdog dropped its forecast for ERCOT’s net internal demand by 3.7 GW, or 4.6%, compared with last summer, “because more data centers can be curtailed by grid operators when needed to prevent grid emergencies.”

    By Brian Martucci • May 27, 2026
  • Puerto Ricans protest the island's power outages.
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    Angel Valentin/Getty Images via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Puerto Rico’s power grid is ‘suspended between two realities,’ top utility regulator says

    Affordability, reliability and the need to restore public confidence almost a decade after Hurricane Maria are top concerns, writes PREB Chairman Edison Avilés.

    By Edison Avilés • May 22, 2026
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    FERC Commissioner Chang is ‘not thinking about’ breaking up PJM

    “I'm interested in the successful continued operation of PJM, but definitely I want to help them get through this period,” FERC Commissioner Judy Chang told Utility Dive. She called the proposed NextEra-Dominion merger “interesting.”

    By May 21, 2026
  • Homes with solar panels seen from above
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    Mario Tama via Getty Images
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    Financing for California’s signature virtual power plant remains uncertain

    Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed funding the Demand Side Grid Support program through this year before moving participants to a separate, utility-run framework. Clean energy groups call the proposal costly and counterproductive.

    By Brian Martucci • May 20, 2026
  • A Sabey data center under construction in Ashburn, Virginia.
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    Diana DiGangi/Utility Dive
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    Data centers could be 33% of commercial building electricity use by 2050: EIA

    In one modeled scenario, the Energy Information Administration found server electricity consumption in 2050 will be more than 16 times what it was in 2020.

    By May 19, 2026
  • Data center development in Loudoun County, Virginia.
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    Diana DiGangi/Utility Dive
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    Pennsylvania releases ‘first-of-its-kind’ large-load model tariff

    The guidelines call for utilities to charge large-load customers for upgrades that “would not have been needed ‘but for’ the interconnection” of that customer, “irrespective of whether other customers will benefit” from the infrastructure.

    By Updated May 18, 2026
  • Homes with solar panels
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    Mario Tama via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Why is the US walking away from energy efficiency?

    Policymakers should set strong energy efficiency standards and reinstate tax incentives for households and businesses to make upgrades, writes Ben Evans at the U.S. Green Building Council.

    By Ben Evans • May 13, 2026
  • US annual electricity consumption to grow 55% by 2050: NEMA

    The group representing electrical equipment manufacturers expects data center energy consumption to grow 300% over the next 10 years.

    By May 13, 2026
  • Bar and line graph on a dark background showing price and consumption over 24 hours. Bars increase in height at night, conveying peak consumption.
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    Permission granted by Kraken
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    Sponsored by Kraken

    Modern billing systems put more power behind utility rates

    Rate design can reduce grid costs, but first utilities need upgraded billing systems.

    By Galen Erickson, Kurt Coutain, Emma Rodvien • May 11, 2026
  • A man stands on a power line pole in the woods.
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    The image by Eversource NH is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
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    Eversource CEO: ‘We are resisting data centers’

    Data centers are of “no value to our residential customer — actually, any customer,” said Eversource Energy CEO Joe Nolan. “It's only going to drive up the price of energy.”

    By May 8, 2026