Futura Energy Group

Energy utility capex projected to eclipse $790B from 2025 through 2028 Driving Factors: The surge in capex is driven by anticipated demand from AI-focused data centers and electric vehicles. Aggregate energy utility investments are projected to hit new highs of $202 billion in 2025, $206 billion in 2026 and $211 billion in 2027. These increases are largely driven by federal legislation passed in 2021 and 2022 that supports infrastructure investment, state-level energy transition plans and incentives, and a strong surge in demand from data centers amid the expansion of AI and cloud computing technologies. Regulatory Challenges: Utilities plan to fund these investments by raising customer rates, but face potential hurdles as regulators have historically approved only 58% of rate increase requests. While the aggregate energy capex forecast for 2028 is $172 billion, the level is likely to be revised significantly upward as utility companies solidify their future project plans in early 2025 disclosures. #energyinfrastructure #utilityinfrastructure #capex #powerinfrastructure #digitalinfrastructure #gridmodernization

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EPRI launches a consortium to develop AI applications in the power sector. The Open Power AI Consortium will develop and maintain domain-specific AI models and datasets optimized for the power sector, collaborate with utilities and other stakeholders to develop power-sector AI use cases and draw on “global resources and expertise … to accelerate innovation and de-risk deployment,” EPRI said.  The Open Power AI Consortium’s founding roster features more than a dozen U.S. utilities, independent power producers, power retailers and grid operators, including Alliant Energy, Ameren , Constellation, Duke Energy Corporation, Exelon, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), New York Power Authority and Southern Company “Over the next decade, AI has the great potential to revolutionize the power sector by delivering the capability to enhance grid reliability, optimize asset performance, and enable more efficient energy management,” EPRI President and CEO Arshad Mansoor said in a statement. The open models developed by the consortium will help utilities and other power-sector stakeholders address complex future challenges like grid modernization, decarbonization and resilience, NVIDIA Senior Managing Director of Energy Marc Spieler added The initiative will “set the standard for AI-driven solutions” and prove “how AI can move beyond hype to deliver real, measurable impact,” said Arun K. Subramaniyan, CEO of Articul8 AI #artificialintelligence #energyinfrastructure #powerinfrastructure #gridmodernization #digitalinfrastructure

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Schneider Electric announced Tuesday that it plans to invest more than $700 million in its U.S. operations through 2027, with some of that money coming to Texas. Schneider said a campus in El Paso will be expanded to keep up with growing demand and increase the production of switchgear and power distribution products. Meanwhile, an innovation center will be opened in Houston to provide a range of AI-driven automation solutions. North America is Schneider Electric’s largest region. The company employs more than 21,000 workers in the U.S., operates over 20 smart factories and distribution centers, and partners with approximately 40% of Fortune 500 companies. Its products and solutions are in an estimated four of 10 U.S. homes, 40% of the world’s hospitals and 40,000 water and wastewater installations in 150 countries. “We stand at an inflection point for the technology and industrial sectors in the U.S., driven by incredible AI growth and unprecedented energy demand,” said Aamir Paul, president of North America Operations for Schneider Electric, said. #innovation #digitalinfrastructure #ai #texasgrowth #energyinfrastructure

AI-driven robots to modernize US power plants as part of $100M partnership between Gecko Robotics and NAES Corporation Gecko Robotics 'Cantilever' Cantilever platform uses a wealth of data gathered from its wall-climbing robots, drones, robotic dogs, and fixed sensors to monitor vital infrastructure. Over the next four years, the US’s energy demand is expected to rise by 16% due to data centers, transportation electrification, industrial growth, and advances in artificial intelligence. By 2030, data center power demand alone will increase by 160%, further taxing an already vulnerable system The multi-year arrangement, initially valued at over $100 million with the potential to expand beyond $250 million, intends to update electricity infrastructure. “The energy demand will grow substantially over the next five to ten years, and we need to be smarter about how technology can support our workforce and infrastructure to deliver this,” said Mark S. Dobler, President and CEO of NAES. With the support of the White House, the companies aim to attract investment, talent, and regulatory backing to accelerate grid modernization. “The White House has rightly acknowledged that we are in an energy crisis, and that continuing on our current path for production and supply puts our country at risk,” said Jake Loosararian, Co-founder and CEO of Gecko Robotics. #digitalinfrastructure #energyinfrastructure #robotics #ai

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RWE and Meta sign long-term power purchase agreement for offtake from 200-megawatt energy project in Texas. Meta to purchase 100% of electricity from RWE’s Waterloo Solar project to support its growing regional operations and data center capacity in Texas Agreement marks RWE’s third long-term PPA with Meta in recent months for homegrown energy from assets in three U.S. states RWE’s PPA with Meta represents the company’s third long-term contract with the technology company in recent months, totaling a combined offtake of 574 MW from projects in Texas, Illinois and Louisiana. RWE previously announced it had secured two PPAs with Meta for 100% of the output from its 274 MWac County Run Solar project in Illinois and its 100 MWac Lafitte Solar project in Louisiana. Christoph Hunfeld Chief Commercial Officer, RWE Clean Energy: “RWE’s partnership with Meta underscores the importance of unleashing American electricity generation from all sources to support load growth in Texas and across the U.S. These collaborations enable us to continue investing in communities across America like Bastrop County, helping to stimulate job creation and economic prosperity, while simultaneously helping companies like Meta match the electricity use of their operations with clean and renewable energy.” Urvi Parekh, Head of Global Energy, Meta: “We’re excited to expand our partnership with RWE and look forward to the Waterloo solar project coming online.” #digitalinfrastructure #energyinfrastructure #powerinfrastructure #texasenergy

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The first Stargate data center in West Texas is in expansion mode... AI infrastructure provider Crusoe said the next phase, in addition to the first stage still under construction, is bringing the high-profile data center project to a total of about 4 million square feet at the sprawling campus in Abilene, Texas. North America is on the "verge of the biggest data center development binge I've ever seen in this industry," Curt Holcomb, a senior vice president and co-leader of JLL's mission-critical solutions team, told CoStar News. "Dallas-Fort Worth is leading the country for what's under construction in the next 36 months," Not counting the Stargate project, Texas has already surpassed the nation's dominant data center market in Northern Virginia for new construction, with 1,191 megawatts of colocation power underway in the major Texas cities compared to 1,071 megawatts of power in the pipeline in Northern Virginia. According to JLL. Raul Saavedra, vice chair and head of data center advisory for the Americas for Colliers, said that's put rural places once considered far afield by data center users — such as the Dakotas and small West Texas towns — on the map. It's a key reason why Abilene is playing a part in Stargate's plans. "Power is the big stumbling block, there's not a lot of huge tranches of power just sitting out there." #digitalinfrastructure #energyinfrastructure #datacenter #texasgrowth #texasjobs