Grid Security & Reliability
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Deep DiveData centers are ready to negotiate flexibility for speed
Hyperscalers want their data centers online and utilities want to provide interconnections, but experts say both are still looking for common operating guidelines.
By Herman K. Trabish • June 26, 2026 -
Diana DiGangi/Utility Dive
OpinionThe grid operates in seconds, but financial settlement still moves in months
Big Tech is allocating hundreds of billions of dollars for data center expansions; creating reporting frameworks for energy flexibility is the next step, writes Andrii Garanin at Silicon Foundation.
By Andrii Garanin • June 26, 2026 -
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TrendlineData Centers and the US Grid
A look at how data centers are affecting the U.S. grid today and how new technologies and rate structures could affect that trajectory in the years to come.
By Utility Dive staff -
Deep DiveDOE emergency orders are incurring additional costs. What are the benefits?
Some of the generating units have operated during tight grid conditions and may have contributed to reliability. Keeping them running costs about $550 million a year, the Sierra Club says.
By Ethan Howland • June 25, 2026 -
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Deployable reserves shrinking as coal, gas forced outage rates rise: NERC
Coal and gas generation saw a respective 39.8 TWh and 19.1 TWh increase in unavailable energy in 2025, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. said.
By Diana DiGangi • June 25, 2026 -
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OpinionThe AI race will be won or lost on power infrastructure
If the harder AI constraint turns out to be infrastructure performance rather than generation, the power sector may be looking for the bottleneck in the wrong place, writes TerraFlow Energy CMO Amanda Simonian.
By Amanda Simonian • June 23, 2026 -
Deep DivePower plants under DOE emergency orders are producing way less energy than before
The Department of Energy ordered six power plants to delay their retirements last year. Two of them produced zero electricity in the first quarter in 2026, and another one is now offline for repairs.
By Ethan Howland • June 23, 2026 -
Eric Geller/Utility Dive
Major critical infrastructure disruptions are inevitable, acting CISA chief says
In recent years, the U.S. government has reoriented its cybersecurity strategy away from prevention and toward resilience.
By Eric Geller • June 22, 2026 -
Retrieved from Public Utilities Commission of Texas.
Texas, facing 438 GW queue, approves initial large-load interconnection process
The first projects to navigate the process will be called “Batch Zero." The Electric Reliability Council of Texas says its large-load queue is almost 90% data centers.
By Robert Walton • June 22, 2026 -
Retrieved from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
6 takeaways from FERC’s data center interconnection decision
If RTOs fail to address large-load concerns identified by FERC, the agency will dictate the solutions, per FERC’s David LaCerte. “I say this not as a threat, but as a statement of duty,” he said.
By Ethan Howland • June 22, 2026 -
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Sponsored by PacesHow AI fits in the energy development workflow
Energy's AI adoption is low. The developers pulling ahead know which workflows to automate.
By Kyle Baranko, Head of Product • June 22, 2026 -
Joe Raedle via Getty Images
Fewer storms, not less risk: El Niño will bring mixed results across US power systems
The climate pattern should reduce Atlantic storm activity this year, but utilities still face localized power outage concerns as flooding and wildfires shift to other parts of the country, experts say.
By Marlene Wilden • June 18, 2026 -
Mario Tama / Staff via Getty Images
Modular approach can speed data center construction by 30%: Flex
More power, cooling and IT equipment is moving outside data halls in a shift that could help “future-proof” computing facilities, a company executive told Facilities Dive.
By Brian Martucci • June 16, 2026 -
Transmission projects bolster New York, New England summer reliability: NPCC
The region should have adequate resources to meet typical electricity demand, but some areas may need to implement emergency procedures or rely on imports during grid stress, NPCC said.
By Robert Walton • June 11, 2026 -
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Companies are failing to keep up with AI’s sprawl, creating entry points for hackers
Three-quarters of organizations say they aren’t fully overseeing the activities of user accounts belonging to agents and other AI tools.
By Eric Geller • June 10, 2026 -
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Not-for-profit utilities turn to energy storage as data centers drive cost, reliability concerns
Reliability, power price hedging and avoided infrastructure investment are among the top reasons for the battery push, NRECA said.
By Brian Martucci • June 9, 2026 -
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OpinionHow load flexibility buys time for America’s data center boom
In markets where supply and demand are out of balance, grid connection increasingly comes with a choice: either bring the needed power yourself, or bring flexibility, write experts at ICF.
By Shanthi Muthiah and Himali Parmar • June 9, 2026 -
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Microsoft seeks Nevada tariff to shield ratepayers from data center costs
The proposal would require large-load customers to pay for infrastructure built specifically to serve their projects while preserving standard utility charges for broader grid services.
By Marlene Wilden • June 8, 2026 -
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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 -
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Electric sector needs firm gas supply to protect grid reliability, gas industry report says
The report, prepared for the Natural Gas Council, applauded reforms introduced following Winter Storm Uri in 2021 but said better coordination between the gas and electric sectors is still needed.
By Marlene Wilden • June 4, 2026 -
Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
MISO’s resource outlook improves as forecast generation additions outpace demand growth
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator is expected to have growing capacity surpluses over the next five years, according to the OMS-MISO survey.
By Ethan Howland • June 4, 2026 -
Meris Lutz/Utility Dive
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 Meris Lutz • June 2, 2026 -
George Frey / Stringer via Getty Images
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 -
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Load growth can help modernize grid, but cost-shift risks are significant: Concentric
On-site generation can be an interim solution as projects await full grid interconnection, but “widespread reliance on off‑grid systems is not a durable path forward,” Concentric said in a new report.
By Diana DiGangi • June 1, 2026 -
MISO pushes back on utility complaint over competitive transmission bidding
The grid operator stopped short of taking a position on the complaint itself. States and consumer advocates oppose it, while at least one major data center company supports it.
By Ethan Howland • May 28, 2026 -
Natalie Behring via Getty Images
OpinionWhat the streaming wars can teach utilities about the AI data center boom
Utilities can avoid making the same mistakes major studios made in the Netflix era, but only if they view the AI boom as a systemwide modernization challenge rather than an overflowing queue of individual projects, writes Abbey O’Brien at Ulteig.
By Abbey O’Brien • May 27, 2026
