Generation: Page 2
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Diana DiGangi/Utility Dive
As load grows, Southern raises spending plan to $81B
The utility company’s large load pipeline now sits at 75 GW, with 10 GW fully contracted.
By Diana DiGangi • Feb. 20, 2026 -
Scott Olson via Getty Images
OpinionThe ghosts of nuclear past, present, and future: Can you tell them apart?
There’s a lot of chatter about nuclear energy these days, but we need to sort the category to make sense of what is feasible, writes University of Oregon Professor of Practice Joshua Skov.
By Joshua Skov • Feb. 20, 2026 -
Explore the Trendline➔
Brandon Bell via Getty Images
TrendlineTop 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 -
Retrieved from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
DOE ‘emergency’ power plant orders help grid reliability: NERC official
However, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator's reliability remains at “high risk,” NERC’s John Moura said, and it's unclear whether its fast-track interconnection process will help.
By Ethan Howland • Feb. 20, 2026 -
Jon Cherry via Getty Images
Health, environmental groups sue EPA over repeal of endangerment finding
California will challenge EPA’s “endangerment finding” repeal in court. The U.S. Conference of Mayors pledges to "fight for policy that addresses climate change with the seriousness that it requires."
By Robyn Griggs Lawrence • Feb. 19, 2026 -
Courtesy of FirstEnergy
FirstEnergy 5-year spending plan jumps 30%, to $36B, driven by transmission
FirstEnergy is seeking a U.S. Department of Energy loan to pay half of a $2.5 billion gas-fired power plant planned for West Virginia.
By Ethan Howland • Feb. 19, 2026 -
The image by Pacific Power is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
PGE in $1.9B deal to buy PacifiCorp’s Washington utility operations
The deal could yield system resilience, transmission and clean energy investment opportunities as well as new large load customers, Portland General Electric officials said.
By Ethan Howland • Feb. 18, 2026 -
Mario Tama via Getty Images
Entergy sees traditional and high-tech industrials driving sales growth
The New Orleans-based company’s five regional utilities expect 8% annual sales growth through 2029 as data centers and new heavy industrial projects come online.
By Brian Martucci • Feb. 17, 2026 -
Diana DiGangi/Utility Dive
PJM board approves $11.8B transmission expansion plan
Dominion Energy utility lands $4.8-billion, high-voltage, direct-current underground project in Virginia as NextEra Energy-Exelon is awarded a $1.7-billion project in Pennsylvania.
By Ethan Howland • Feb. 17, 2026 -
Getty Images
DTE Energy’s 5-year spending plan jumps 20% on data center, reliability investments
The company's 2026-2030 investment plan clocks in at $36.5 billion, up from $30 billion it identified in its 2025-2029 outlook.
By Robert Walton • Feb. 17, 2026 -
Getty Images
Transmission drives Exelon’s capital spending plan to $41.3B
Exelon has a “line of sight” on $12 billion to $17 billion of transmission buildout over the next 10 years that isn’t included in its current capital plan, a company official said.
By Ethan Howland • Feb. 13, 2026 -
Ron Jenkins via Getty Images
AEP contracted large load pipeline doubles to 56 GW
American Electric Power’s data center pipeline in Texas surged to 36 GW by the end of December, from 13 GW in the third quarter.
By Ethan Howland • Feb. 13, 2026 -
Getty Images
300-MW Ameren fast-track project hits snag on DOE transmission funding uncertainty
It’s unclear if the U.S. Department of Energy will help fund a set of 345-kV projects in the Great Plains region, leaving Ameren Missouri in doubt about potential interconnection costs for its project.
By Ethan Howland • Feb. 12, 2026 -
Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
TVA board, remade by Trump, votes to keep coal plants open
There has been a “significant change in the regulatory outlook, particularly for coal, and that creates both the opportunity and the need for us to revisit these decisions,” said TVA CFO Tom Rice.
By Diana DiGangi • Feb. 12, 2026 -
Brandon Bell via Getty Images
Opinion
Electrification is outpacing investment. A federal trust fund could close the gap.
A federal trust fund for energy infrastructure could facilitate grid expansion and maintenance, writes Zane Kinsky, a Clean Energy Leadership Institute 2025 Fellow.
By Zane Kinsky • Feb. 11, 2026 -
Getty Images
Growing demand will be met mainly by solar: EIA
The Energy Information Administration expects solar generation to jump 17% this year and an additional 23% in 2027.
By Diana DiGangi • Feb. 11, 2026 -
Retrieved from Janet Butler/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
FERC rejects AEP request to sell capacity in upcoming auction
Critics argued AEP utilities were trying to offload capacity they acquired to serve data centers that didn’t materialize. FERC appeared to echo that rationale, saying AEP’s “problem” is simply excess capacity resulting from “its own business decisions.”
By Ethan Howland • Updated Feb. 11, 2026 -
Opinion
The coming age of compact fusion: local power for a data-hungry world
The question now is not whether fusion will matter, but how we build it small, fast and local, writes Itay Gissis, vice president of R&D for nT-Tao: “The goal is not to build a bigger star, but to bring the power of the stars within reach.”
By Itay Gissis • Feb. 10, 2026 -
EPA extends coal ash landfill monitoring, cleanup deadlines
The Environmental Protection Agency’s action is part of a broad push by the Trump administration to support fossil-fueled power plants.
By Ethan Howland • Feb. 10, 2026 -
The image by chaddavis.photography is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Natural gas installations more than doubled in 2025: FERC
The U.S. installed around 4.2 GW of natural gas capacity last year from January through November, more than double the 1.9 GW installed in the same period in 2024.
By Diana DiGangi • Feb. 9, 2026 -
Getty Images
OpinionCongressional ‘grid reliability’ bill is like duct tape on a cracked dam
Propping up expensive, dirty power plants threatens consumers with higher prices while punting systemic solutions further into the future, write colleagues from Energy Innovation.
By Mike O’Boyle and Silvio Marcacci • Feb. 9, 2026 -
Courtesy of Basin Electric
Basin Electric Power Cooperative awards contract for $4B North Dakota gas plant
PCL Construction says it expects to finish the first unit of the power plant in early 2029 and the second unit about one year later in 2030.
By Sebastian Obando • Feb. 6, 2026 -
Permission granted by Consumers Energy
Consumers Energy plans over $17B in capital spending in next 5 years
Executives did not provide a substantive update on the DOE’s “emergency” orders to continue running a 1.6-GW coal plant the company had planned to retire, but they hinted that they would eventually shut it down to “drive cost savings.”
By Brian Martucci • Feb. 6, 2026 -
Getty Images
EPA reconsiders Good Neighbor Plan that limited power plant emissions
The agency seeks to roll back the Biden-era program to cut ozone-forming emissions of nitrogen oxides from power plants and industrial facilities. This pollution often affects downwind states’s ability to meet Clean Air Act requirements.
By Jeffrey Kinney • Feb. 6, 2026 -
Nathan Howard via Getty Images
Manufacturers say AEP Ohio still inflating data center demand after halving forecast
AEP cut its large load forecast by more than 50% after regulators approved a new large load tariff. But the trade group said it does not reflect PJM’s load forecast methodology.
By Ethan Howland • Feb. 6, 2026 -
Tasos Katopodis via Getty Images
Xcel Energy pursuing large load tariffs in 4 states amid data center growth
The company expects to sign contracts on 6 GW of data centers by the end of 2027, CEO Bob Frenzel said. Xcel is partnering with NextEra Energy and GE Vernova to speed its development of new generation.
By Emma Penrod • Feb. 6, 2026
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