AI-curated news for your industry

Harbert Management Corp. announced this week the acquisition of the Mid-Georgia Cogen plant, located in Kathleen, Georgia, with an installed capacity of approximately 323 megawatts, adjacent to Robins Air Force Base, operating since 1998 and serving as a peaking plant for Georgia Power. The plant has signed a new 20-year power purchase agreement with Georgia Power starting in 2028, while also supplying thermal energy to the neighboring Frito-Lay facility. The transaction has been approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission, but the acquisition price was not disclosed.

The energy and utilities industry is facing complex challenges such as electrification, distributed energy resources, and electric vehicles, making traditional models that rely on human judgment insufficient. Vertical AI, as an intelligent technology tailored to industry-specific scenarios, is collaborating with human experts to form a new operating model. Based on SEW.AI's research on 470+ organizations, this article explains how "human + vertical AI" achieves decision-making at scale by connecting four-dimensional data—customers, employees, business, and grid—and lists practical case studies from utilities in Canada and the United States.

After reviewing over twenty utility earnings calls from Q2 2026, Utility Dive found that while maintaining the data center growth narrative, the industry faces dual pressures from equipment order backlogs and public resistance. TD Cowen analysts point out that affordability is becoming a key constraint, with industry discussions shifting from 'finding growth opportunities' to 'recovering investments in ways acceptable to customers and regulators.' The three major gas turbine manufacturers have backlogs ranging from 35 to 116 gigawatts and are simultaneously expanding production.

三菱重工高管表示，2026财年第一季度（截至6月）大型燃气轮机需求超出预期，订单积压达35吉瓦，较上年同期23吉瓦大幅增长。公司能源系统部门重组后首季订单量同比上升56%，其中美国4台、日本6台大型机组订单。公司计划将产能较2024年翻倍，并继续评估扩产需求。

ConEd's CECONY and O&R reported combined second-quarter electricity revenue exceeding $3.1 billion, up over 10% year-over-year. The company plans to build 28 new substations by 2035 and invest approximately $37.2 billion in distribution network upgrades to address climate policies and load growth.

Caterpillar reported second-quarter results with record sales and revenue of $20.5 billion, up 24% year-over-year, driven by demand for data center generators, bulldozers, and other industrial equipment. The CEO stated that customer orders are booked through 2030 and announced the restart of the 10-megawatt medium-speed gas engine platform.

PPL Corp. President and CEO Vincent Sorgi revealed on an earnings call that its joint venture with Blackstone Infrastructure, Invitium Energy, has locked in over 5 GW of gas turbine capacity for Pennsylvania data centers and has secured approximately 5 GW of interconnection queue acceptance from PJM. The joint venture expects to announce at least one power supply agreement this year, with potential investment reaching $15 billion by 2032.

Siemens Energy executives stated during the fiscal Q3 2026 earnings call that, driven by demand from data centers and other sectors, the company has added approximately 30 new medium and large gas turbine units, with orders reaching 15 GW this quarter and gas service backlog increasing to 69 GW. The company plans to expand medium gas turbine capacity to about 100 units by 2028 and increase grid equipment capacity such as transformers by approximately 50%.

Constellation Energy CEO Joseph Dominguez stated on an earnings call that existing generation assets are the 'cornerstone' for powering data centers in the early stages of development, noting that the grid faces a peak capacity issue rather than an energy shortage. The company also disclosed the impact of the suspension of data center interconnection in Texas and the progress of the Brazos Valley power plant sale.

Oncor executives said during a Thursday earnings call that approximately 44GW of large load projects in its service area have qualified for ERCOT's newly launched 'Batch Zero' large load interconnection process. However, Texas Governor Greg Abbott's order to suspend new data center interconnection approvals for a statewide audit has made the timeline for this process uncertain. Oncor's load service requests have increased from 289GW at the end of the first quarter to 298GW this quarter.