How utilities can partner with data centers amid surging load and on-site generation

Data centers are reshaping energy. Utilities must evolve from suppliers to strategic innovators, leading with transparency and bold engagement.

By Chris Kasiewicz, PE and Chris Postma, PE – POWER Engineers, member of WSP • Sept. 8, 2025

Compressing the timeline to a fusion future

General Fusion advances clean energy, using simulation to reach major milestone in fusion power.

By Joseph Carew • Sept. 8, 2025

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 Stories from Utility Dive

Power demand is rising amid dramatic shifts in federal energy policy, but technology and markets continue to push the grid toward cleaner, more distributed resources. 

By Utility Dive staff

Fed primed for rate cut as hiring slumps, unemployment inches up to 4.3%

Traders in interest rate futures, responding to new labor market data, increased the odds that the Fed will cut the benchmark interest rate by at least 0.75 percentage point before next year.

By Jim Tyson • Sept. 5, 2025

Nuclear power is failing, and AI can’t rescue it

Nuclear generation is expensive and slow to develop. Claims that past failures won’t recur have convinced politicians to socialize investments rejected by private capital markets.

By Amory B. Lovins • Sept. 5, 2025

Trump’s FERC nominees pledge agency independence in Senate confirmation hearing

Nominees Laura Swett and David LaCerte said they support the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s independence and the need to be agnostic on generating technologies.

By Ethan Howland • Sept. 5, 2025

Gas turbine manufacturers expand capacity, but order backlog could prove stubborn

One expert said the industry moves are unlikely to “drastically reduce” wait times, which can stretch as long as seven years. “More skilled and engineering labor will be needed,” he said.

By Diana DiGangi • Sept. 5, 2025

Utilities could add 147 GW of new large loads, boosting peak demand 20%: WoodMac

Most large loads under construction are located in regulated markets, but there is growing interest in siting these projects in deregulated markets, according to a new report.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 5, 2025

FERC in Focus: Will the agency maintain its independence under Trump 2.0?

With two Republican nominees preparing to join the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, former commissioners, experts and agency observers say they are watching several key areas to gauge whether the body will remain autonomous.

By Ethan Howland • Sept. 4, 2025

Trump escalates war against offshore wind as Danish developer strikes back

The administration moved to revoke another offshore wind permit as the developer of a different blocked project filed a lawsuit.

By Meris Lutz • Sept. 4, 2025

It’s time for customer-oriented approaches to generator interconnection

The electric power system requires seminal reform. Open access should remain a vital principle of grid regulation.

By Travis Kavulla and Eric Blank • Sept. 3, 2025

Rising natural gas prices expected to drive up electricity costs: IEEFA

Price volatility and sticker shock could trigger public backlash against utilities, an Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis expert says.

By Emma Penrod • Sept. 3, 2025

PJM stakeholders overwhelmingly pan proposal for data center interconnection

Amazon and others urged PJM to drop the proposal and instead focus on how to improve load forecasting, bolster the grid interconnection process and strengthen regional transmission planning.

By Ethan Howland • Sept. 3, 2025

JEA plans $1.6B, 675-MW gas plant

Consumer and environmental advocates say the plant could stick Jacksonville, Florida, residents with increased rates and a reliance on natural gas for decades.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 2, 2025

PJM faces possible long-term ‘energy emergency’: DOE

The Department of Energy ordered Constellation to keep running units in Pennsylvania while groups challenge the emergency orders. “A ‘growing … concern’ is not an emergency,” consumer advocates said.

By Ethan Howland • Sept. 2, 2025

Tennessee Valley Authority signs agreement for 6 GW of small nuclear

The initiative will utilize small modular reactors developed by NuScale Power and deployed by ENTRA1 Energy.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 2, 2025

3.5 GW of offshore wind in New England could offset natural gas price spikes: report

Offshore wind in the region could have offset the surge in natural gas prices last winter and saved ratepayers $400 million, according to a report from Daymark Energy Advisors.

By Diana DiGangi • Aug. 28, 2025

Palisades becomes first decommissioned US nuclear plant to reach ‘operations’ status

The plant still requires extensive work, including reassembling the main generator and turbine, before it can resume generating electricity, owner Holtec International said.

By Meris Lutz • Aug. 28, 2025

IEP plans 944-MW behind-the-meter gas plant to power PA data center

Energy storage will be built alongside the gas plant, and there will be a backup grid connection, project partners said. It’s unclear what regulatory approvals are needed for the project to move forward.

By Robert Walton • Aug. 28, 2025

Renewables make up 91% of the 15 GW of generation the US added in first 5 months of 2025: FERC

“Solar continues to deliver new power to the grid faster and cheaper than any other source of electricity,” said Stephanie Bosh, senior vice president of communications for the Solar Energy Industries Association.

By Meris Lutz • Aug. 27, 2025

MISO’s fast-track interconnection review draws 26.6 GW in proposals, dominated by gas

Proposals for the expedited study process include about 19.7 GW of gas, 4 GW of storage and a 675-MW nuclear project in Iowa.

By Ethan Howland • Aug. 27, 2025

Energy demand, permitting top of mind at Congressional renewables expo

Speakers from industry and national labs warned of obstacles to meeting the surge in energy demand expected in the next five to 10 years at July’s Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Expo.

By Lauren Schenkman • Aug. 26, 2025

Southeast utilities are signing gas capacity contracts that will burden customers for decades

“Adding even one more dekatherm of gas commitment to the Southeast is senseless,” writes SACE senior decarbonization manager Shelley Hudson Robbins.

By Shelley Hudson Robbins • Aug. 26, 2025

EIA projects record natural gas consumption in 2025

“We expect increases in natural gas consumed in the residential and commercial sectors to offset decreases in natural gas consumed in the electric power sector,” said the Energy Information Administration.

By Diana DiGangi • Aug. 26, 2025

FERC approves NextEra waiver needed for Duane Arnold nuclear plant restart

NextEra Energy — majority owner of the nuclear plant in Iowa — is in talks with potential customers for the output from Duane Arnold.

By Ethan Howland • Aug. 26, 2025

Import tariffs could slow transmission development, drive up utility costs: Morningstar

With electric bills already rising, utility regulators may shield ratepayers from tariff-related costs, analysts with the ratings agency said.

By Ethan Howland • Aug. 26, 2025