FERC in Focus: Consumers, reliability and states are FERC’s top priorities, Chairman Christie says

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will tackle the “huge” issue of colocation, newly named Chairman Mark Christie said in an interview.

By Ethan Howland • Jan. 28, 2025

NextEra partners with GE Vernova to build ‘gigawatts’ of gas generation

Behind-the-meter gas generation remains a novel concept, but NextEra sees potential for “large load customers,” company executives say.

By Emma Penrod • Jan. 27, 2025

Explore the Trendline➔

AI in the Power Sector

Artificial intelligence is uniquely positioned to impact the electricity industry from both ends: as the technology driving large load demand growth and as a tool with the potential to make the power system more efficient. 

By Utility Dive staff

PG&E, other electric utilities call for Senate to pass forest management bill

The Fix Our Forests Act would make it easier for utilities to perform vegetation management on federal lands to reduce wildfire risks. The bill passed the House on Thursday.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 27, 2025

Utilities can turn to software for proactive outage communication to avoid leaving customers in the dark

Discover how utilities can leverage software to keep customers informed during outages and build trust.

By Lily Stein • Jan. 27, 2025

Trump freezes IRA funding

The White House issued a memo to clarify the funding pause, specifying that it pertains only to aspects of the law mentioned in Section 2 of the executive order.

By Kate Magill • Updated Jan. 23, 2025

The 2025 outlook for data center cooling

Rapidly increasing server rack densities and 24/7 uptime requirements will increase demand for liquid and hybrid cooling systems, including retrofits, these data center cooling experts say.

By Brian Martucci • Jan. 22, 2025

AI improvements, DERs and new generation needed to meet power demand: USEA panel

“Serving data center load is absolutely a national security challenge,” said NERC President and CEO Jim Robb.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 22, 2025

Moss Landing battery fire sparks calls to improve safety, ‘accountability’ for industry

The site’s fourth blaze in five years destroyed most of a 300-MW battery array owned by Vistra Energy and should serve as a “wake-up call” for the industry, local officials said.

By Brian Martucci • Updated Jan. 21, 2025

Liberty Energy, DC Grid partner on off-grid power for data centers and EV hubs

The alliance aims to “provide site-specific power solutions” with higher power conversion efficiency and lower emissions than current solutions, the companies said.

By Brian Martucci • Jan. 21, 2025

Texas PUCT approves Entergy’s $137M system resiliency plan

However, regulators declined to give conditional approval to $198 million in system hardening and fire mitigation projects Entergy wants to fund through the Texas Energy Fund.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 17, 2025

DOE nominee Wright aims to boost power supplies to lower costs

“I'm 100% committed to growing our electricity grid and our energy production and removing those barriers that are standing in the way,” said Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Energy.

By Ethan Howland • Jan. 16, 2025

Surging electricity demand drives power-sector agenda

Demand growth projections are “candidly freaking out a lot of people,” including lawmakers, regulators and industry leaders, one expert said.

By Ethan Howland • Jan. 16, 2025

Biden orders Energy, Defense departments to lease sites for AI data centers, clean energy generation

The executive order calls for using “categorical exclusions” to rapidly site data centers and power generation.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 14, 2025

From vacant to vital: How commercial buildings could solve the power grid crisis

Turning empty offices into energy assets offers a win-win for real estate and the grid.

By Nate Walkingshaw • Jan. 13, 2025

AI applications in the energy sector — are you missing out on sustainable impact?

Despite the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence across the power and utility sector, its potential remains underutilized in many areas.

By Mike Duffy • Jan. 10, 2025

PJM ‘shovel-ready’ interconnection plan draws mixed reviews at FERC

State utility regulators and power plant owners told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission they support PJM’s Reliability Resource Initiative, but renewable developers and others oppose it.

By Ethan Howland • Jan. 9, 2025

Data centers drive growth, risk for PG&E, Constellation, NorthWestern: BofA

Electric utilities that can increase earnings related to data center energy demand should see their share prices rise in 2025, according to Bank of America Global Research.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 8, 2025

9 US electric power sector issues to watch in 2025

From rising electricity prices and demand to emerging opportunities and challenges around nuclear energy, virtual power plants, renewables and more, we’ve highlighted nine of the most important issues for the year ahead.

By Robert Walton, Ethan Howland, Diana DiGangi, Larry Pearl, Brian Martucci • Jan. 8, 2025

‘Take all appropriate actions’: NERC rings in 2025 with winter storm warning

Forecasts call for Arctic air to challenge the eastern half of the U.S. starting this weekend. Storms “could result in the lowest January temperatures in more than a decade in some places,” said meteorologists.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 2, 2025

Texas scraps $1B performance credit mechanism proposal as reliability benefits questioned

"We’ve spent countless hours evaluating the PCM — up until, literally, my last open meeting,” Commissioner Lori Cobos said Thursday. She announced her retirement in December.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 20, 2024

FERC floats ‘ride-through’ reliability standards for wind, solar, batteries, plus 5 other open meeting takeaways

The standards are the first in what is expected to be a suite of NERC rules for inverter-based resources, which can trip offline during grid disturbances.

By Ethan Howland • Dec. 20, 2024

‘Explosive’ demand growth puts more than half of North America at risk of blackouts: NERC

“Simply put, our infrastructure is not being built fast enough to keep up with the rising demand,” said John Moura, NERC’s director of reliability assessments and planning analysis.

By Robert Walton • Updated June 17, 2025

NERC adopts 2 new standards to boost extreme weather reliability

The board also adopted three standards modifications to bolster critical infrastructure protection and energy assurance.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 16, 2024

Texas task force aims to ‘tear down barriers’ to virtual power plant pilot as participation lags

The aggregated DER pilot, which includes Tesla and Bandera Electric as participants, aims to harness 80 MW of flexible resources on the Texas grid, but it has not reached that goal due to various limitations.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 11, 2024

Five-year US load growth forecast surges 456%, to 128 GW: Grid Strategies

U.S. electricity demand is forecast to increase 15.8% by 2029, according to a new report from Grid Strategies, which called the findings “shocking.” Six regions of the country are driving the growth.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 6, 2024