San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) is deploying AI technology that will give it “near-instant insights” into potential wildfire and extreme weather risks, in partnership with Qualcomm Technologies and the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The new Edge Alert Sentinel (EAS) will integrate environmental sensors, AI technologies, edge computing, and atmospheric science from wind, weather, and environmental data. One of its biggest draws is its “edge” capabilities, meaning it will be able to process data at the point of collection rather than relying on cloud computing that can introduce delays.

In Southern California’s complex weather environment, where Santa Ana winds, droughts, and terrain variability complicate traditional forecasting efforts, EAS will be able to deliver guidance in seconds rather than minutes – which can make a real difference to wildfire mitigation work.

“For nearly two decades, our region has avoided a catastrophic electrically caused wildfire because we chose to lead early and never stop looking ahead,” SDG&E President Scott Crider said in a statement. “EAS reflects that same mindset. By working with Qualcomm Technologies and UC San Diego, we’re bringing world-class technology and science together, so intelligence lives where the risk lives – on the front lines – and communities are safer because of it.”

A pilot is being set up on Mt. Palomar, about 70 miles north of San Diego. SDG&E and its partners are planning for a wider rollout in 2027.

The tool is SDG&E’s latest designed to keep customers safe from wildfires and extreme weather. Over the past decade, SDG&E has invested nearly $6 billion to prevent catastrophic wildfires.

The company’s Wildfire and Climate Resilience Center integrates cutting-edge fire science, weather forecasting, and supercomputer modeling into the team’s wildfire mitigation work, helping SDG&E respond to real-time threats while building a more resilient system to respond to longer-term threats.

In July, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the closure of a $3.26 billion loan that will support AEP Texas in its work to lower customer costs and enhance energy grid reliability and resilience.

More than 1 million AEP Texas customers will save $685 million in electricity costs during the next 30 years as a result of the loan, which will help fund 100 AEP Texas transmission projects, including the construction of 2,800 miles of new transmission lines.

“Texas is poised for incredible growth over the next five years. AEP Texas is committed to enabling this opportunity while leveraging resources to deliver future savings for our customers,” AEP Texas President and COO Adrian Rodriguez said in a statement. “This loan supports critical updates to our transmission infrastructure to strengthen reliability, connect new load and generation resources, and manage affordability.”

The loan will also support up to 41 gigawatts of new load growth by 2030, as AEP Texas invests in the grid to meet energy demand while maintaining reliability and affordability for current customers.

“This investment will modernize Texas’ electric grid, support the energy needed for AI, advanced manufacturing, the Permian Basin, and help keep electricity costs down for Texans,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.

The loan is the third significant package to be announced by DOE in recent months as the government supports electric companies’ efforts to maintain a reliable and resilient grid and deliver reliable, affordable energy to customers.

In June, DOE and DTE Energy announced a similar $1.6-billion loan package that will deliver more than $700 million in cost savings to Michigan customers. In February, DOE issued its largest-ever loan guarantee to Southern Company, supporting $26.5 billion in energy projects in Alabama and Georgia.

“These loans will help lower the cost of investments in our grid that will enhance reliability and resilience for the benefit of our customers,” Chris Womack, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company, said in a statement at the time.

DOE’s Gregory Beard appeared on a recent episode of the Electric Perspectives podcast to discuss the department’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing and how it is supporting the work that electric companies do in their communities every day. Listen here.

In June, Avangrid announced plans to build a new 82 megawatt-hour battery storage facility in Gilliam County, Ore. – bolstering reliability in the region while supporting Avangrid’s efforts to balance electricity supply and demand in the Pacific Northwest in real time.

A single discharge from the Shutler Energy Storage system will be able to power approximately 3,000 homes in the sparsely-populated county. The facility will come online in 2027, and its construction will create 35 local union jobs.

“Shutler Energy Storage gives us another tool to effectively manage our regional portfolio, improving how we coordinate across our generating assets and make better use of our existing infrastructure,” Avangrid Power CEO Sy Oytan said in a statement. “This added flexibility will allow us to respond quickly to changing grid conditions and operate our fleet more efficiently every day.”

Additionally, Avangrid announced plans to donate $110,000 annually to Condon Early Learning Center and Arlington Childcare Center, two local nonprofits supporting early childhood education and childcare.

"This generous investment by Avangrid will provide vital support not only for our organization, but more importantly for the families, children, and future of Arlington,” said Arlington Childcare Center Board President Mark Moore. “This kind of community partnership provides working families with greater security, allows local businesses to thrive, and ensures that our community’s children have access to quality early learning experiences for years to come.”

In June, NextEra Energy Transmission and the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority announced the completion of the 137-mile, 345-kilovolt Crossroads-Hobbs-Roadrunner Transmission Line near the state’s eastern border with Texas.

The line was completed ahead of schedule and is projected to reduce residential customers’ bills in the surrounding area by $13 per month.

“The Crossroads project demonstrates New Mexico's leadership in building the infrastructure that drives economic development and affordability for everyday New Mexicans,” New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “Together, we are building energy, transmission and jobs that will power our workforce and economy, reliably and affordably, for generations to come.”

The project is one of several that America’s investor-owned electric companies are spearheading to deliver reliable, affordable energy to customers. EEI members will invest $1.4 trillion through 2030 to strengthen the grid and support the communities that depend on them.

“At a time when America needs more electricity, needs it affordably, and needs it now, this project shows what's possible when transmission developers, strong collaboration, community engagement and disciplined execution come together,” said NextEra Energy Transmission President Matt Valle. “This is speed-to-power at its finest and the kind of infrastructure that will power communities well into the future.”

Fair share agreements with large load customers “place downward pressure on average prices” for all customers when implemented correctly, according to a new analysis from The Brattle Group.

The study, commissioned for Alliant Energy, looked at large load demand in Iowa and Wisconsin. It found that tariffs and contracts that ensure hyperscalers and large customers pay their fair share not only protect existing customers from cost increases - they help ease price pressures by paying for grid upgrades and spreading fixed costs across a larger base.

As of June, regulators in 24 states - including in Iowa and Wisconsin - had approved at least one large load tariff, which electric companies use to ensure residential customers don’t subsidize energy infrastructure needed to serve data centers. Decisions are pending in an additional four states.

“Our analysis shows that affordability outcomes will depend significantly on how utilities structure rates, contracts, and cost allocation mechanisms,” Brattle Principal Ryan Hledik, a coauthor of the report, said in a statement. “When incremental revenues from large customers meet or exceed the costs they impose on the system, existing customers can be protected while communities still benefit from economic development and infrastructure investment.”

The study noted that states experiencing the fastest electricity demand growth have historically seen the largest declines in inflation-adjusted electricity prices. Its findings add to a growing pool of research suggesting data centers and large load customers do not drive up electricity prices for customers when electric companies implement tariffs and other specialized contracts to protect customers.

A separate recent analysis from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and The Brattle Group found that “state-level load growth was linked to declining all-sector average retail prices in recent decades, including from 2019 to 2025, in most states.” And, earlier this year, a Charles River Associates study similarly found that electricity rates have remained broadly stable in most states and have generally tracked inflation over time. Outside the PJM Interconnection region, it found that customers have largely been shielded from cost increases related to data centers.

Alliant Energy is in the midst of a five-year rate freeze in its Iowa service territory that was made possible by data center and large load investments in the grid. Similar rate freezes have been approved in Alabama and proposed in Michigan, Wisconsin, and other states.

An Alliant Energy-supported data center project in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the benefits it has provided to the surrounding community were the focus of a recent episode of the Electric Perspectives podcast. Learn more at electricperspectives.com/podcast.

“We know it feels like every bill is higher right now – from housing to groceries to power – and that can put a strain on families. We also understand that our customers depend on us to provide safe, reliable energy, day in and day out, at the lowest possible price," Duke Energy Florida State President Melissa Seixas said in a statement. “This is the third rate reduction for our customers this year, supporting our commitment to delivering positive outcomes that have a real, tangible impact on their wallets and in their lives.”

The reduction reflects the difference between anticipated storm cost recovery related to hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton, and what the company actually incurred. Rates were reduced for a similar reason in February. Duke Energy Florida also cut rates in March, as it does every year, to support customers during a period when energy use is typically higher.

Additionally, Duke Energy Florida estimates its customers will save more than $1 billion from infrastructure investments the company made last year to expand its generation portfolio, upgrade natural gas plants, make infrastructure more weather-resilient, and deploy self-healing grid technologies.

Across the country, EEI member companies will invest more than $1.4 trillion during the next five years to make the grid stronger, more resilient, and more efficient – allowing them to meet rising energy demand while continuing to deliver the reliable, affordable energy that customers count on. They will invest more than $238 billion this year alone.

Many, like Duke Energy Florida, are also freezing or reducing rates. In March, Pacific Gas and Electric Company lowered electric rates for the fifth time since 2024. In May, Georgia’s public service commission approved a plan to lower rates by roughly $50 per year for the typical residential customer after previously instituting a multi-year rate freeze, thanks in part to Georgia Power’s work with data center developers. Similar rate freezes have been approved in Alabama and Iowa and proposed in Michigan.

A recent study from Concentric Energy Advisors (CEA) identified the grid’s 22,000 generators, 55,000 substations, 642,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, and 6.3 million miles of distribution infrastructure as “the enabling platform for economic and national security,” delivering “reliable power to all sectors of the economy, including essential services such as defense, emergency response, water systems, and communication.”

Investor-owned electric companies will invest $1.4 trillion through 2030 to strengthen America’s energy infrastructure, increase grid resilience, and ensure reliable and affordable service to their nearly 250 million customers, according to a new capital expenditures projection released by EEI.

The data, primarily compiled from EEI member company announcements and financial statements, also shows that the industry’s annual capital expenditures hit a record $204.1 billion last year—a 14th-consecutive year of record-high investment. In 2026, capital expenditures are projected to jump 17 percent to $238.8 billion and continue climbing for the foreseeable future.

“America’s electric companies work every day to get more steel in the ground and electrons on the grid, improving reliability for customers and ensuring the United States is home to the industries, technologies, and jobs of tomorrow,” said EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney. “The grid is the most important engine in America, and these investments show our industry’s commitment to powering the U.S. economy and the lives of our customers.”

Independent studies, including recent analyses from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Charles River Associates, have found that rising energy demand can lower prices for customers by putting more electrons on the grid and spreading fixed costs across a broader base.

EEI maintains a running snapshot of $900 billion in data center and large-customer investments supported by member companies, representing more than 55 gigawatts of connected load. These investments are being supported with customers in mind, with tariffs and fair share agreements protecting American households from higher bills as a result of data centers. At the same time, these investments support reliability, resilience, and economic development opportunities in communities across the country.

The $1.4 trillion that investor-owned electric companies will invest in the grid between 2026 and 2030 is an increase from the previous projection of $1.1 trillion to be invested between 2025 and 2029. Rising energy demand driven by electrification, industrialization, the onshoring of manufacturing activity, and data centers and AI technologies are creating a need for new energy infrastructure of all kinds.

Review more of the industry’s latest financial statistics at eei.org/data.

On a new episode of The Deciders podcast, EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney joined Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Brody Mullins and veteran D.C. strategist Lisa Camooso Miller to discuss rising electricity demand, responsible data center growth, grid innovation, and challenges facing customers in the PJM Interconnection market.

The following is edited for length and clarity:

Brody Mullins (BM): Drew, your career has spanned Capitol Hill, the Treasury, private equity, and now the Edison Electric Institute. Tell us about your journey.

Drew Maloney (DM): I grew up talking about political issues with my family. My mom worked on Capitol Hill. She was a staffer. My parents were introduced on a blind date by Senator Chris Dodd. I had an uncle that worked for Hubert Humphrey's campaign.

We always talked politics, and I knew, at some point, I wanted to get involved in politics. After college, I went down to Williamsburg, Va., and I ran a state senate campaign. It was the best experience that I had. You had to learn to make quick decisions, drive a message, and build a coalition at 22 years old.

From there, I came to Capitol Hill and got to work for some great members. Senator Roger Wicker, who was in the House at the time. Congressman Tom DeLay. What I really learned from them is how to put together coalitions.

Congressman DeLay was the Whip at the time, and he would often have Congressman John Murtha, a big Democrat at the time, and Congressman John Dingle in his office. They were trying to figure out how they could piece things together—how they could get things passed. Watching how they maneuvered and counted votes was instrumental in figuring out how to be an advocate here in Washington.

That had a natural progression toward advocacy. I was fortunate enough to go into the U.S. Treasury during the tax reform process, and then I worked in private-equity advocacy and am now here at EEI, which is the top trade association for electric utilities in the country.

It’s been a great ride. I’ve had great experience, and I love doing what I do.

BM: You worked at the Treasury Department during the first Trump Administration, and you mentioned the tax reform bill. Tell us about that journey.

DM: Looking back at 2017, you had Speaker Paul Ryan, who had probably started to think about tax reform when he was in kindergarten. You had Representative Kevin Brady, and then you had the Senate and Senator Mitch McConnell.

For 30 years, we hadn't had tax reform. You had to go back to 1986 before there was major tax reform. There was a lot of work that went into the thought process around tax reform coming into 2016-17.

You finally had in the White House a willing partner, a businessman who had been elected who understood the importance of tax reform and the economic growth that it can provide. It was a fantastic time to be part of something that was very unique. It really was a great partnership to have between House, Senate, and the White House.

Lisa Camooso Miller (LCM): Let’s talk more about your members, specifically, and what issues they’re focused on.

DM: EEI represents 63 different utilities. We have members in every state around the country, and we provide energy to 250 million Americans—75 percent of Americans get their electricity from us. There’s enormous growth, and we are there to meet that growth. That’s why we’re investing. We’re providing reliable and affordable energy.

This is an inflection point right now for the industry.

BM: Two of your biggest members recently announced a merger: NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy. Why is there consolidation in the industry right now?

DM: It's all about scale. In order to be able affordability and build out the grid to provide um a resilient system—a reliable system—you need as many resources as you can as you can capture. That’s one of the goals of the merger: You get that scale, and the beneficiary will ultimately be the customer. You can capture that and put downward pressure on rates over the long term.

LCM: What would you say is the biggest misconception about the electric utilities?

DM: The biggest misconception is that we really are innovators. If you think about the grid, it was first built about 150 years ago. It's probably the most critical economic and national security engine that we have, but it takes a lot of investment to maintain. That's why you see us investing more than a trillion dollars over the next four years in building out the grid.

What people don't see is all the innovation and technology behind the grid. We're constantly putting out new technologies that can determine whether the grid can handle more capacity so it can deliver more power to people's houses.

If you go into one of our control centers, it's like a starship inside. You can see your entire grid and know what's happening in one town versus another. If you have cold weather here and warmer weather there, you can keep moving things around to make the system as efficient as possible. You probably couldn't do that 20 years ago. It's an amazing amount of investment to make the system work better and be more resilient, more reliable for our customers

We are making the customer experience better by including information in bills that lets you figure out that it’s better to run your washer and dryer at night, or it’s better to plug in your car at night, charge your phone at night, because the electricity rate is cheaper when people are using less electricity.

One of the things that's really been critical over time is, now that we have more severe storms, whether it’s winter storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, or wildfires, we are developing these sensor technologies that can tell us when a tree is getting too close to a wire that may trigger a fire.

We can reroute systems when a line goes down so we can provide power and go around the downed line. There's so many of these technologies and so much innovation in our industry that people don't see every day.

LCM: Affordability is one thing that both parties are talking about right now. What are some of the things your members are doing to address that particular issue?

DM: I think the challenge right now is that we’re in this affordability debate where people are struggling—whether it’s groceries, food, health care, or energy prices. Every company is dealing with this and addressing it with their customers. We have programs that help customers who can’t pay their bills, that can stretch out payments. Every single company is wrestling with this issue. 

But I think what we have to do is keep reminding people of the value that we provide. If you think about your home, there are about 21 connected devices right now—your smartphones, your computers, your televisions—and on top of that, there are probably another 75 things that get plugged in… your hair dryer, your water heater, your electric toothbrush. All of this requires power. What our job during this time period is to remind people of that value—that for basically the cost of a box of cereal every day, all of those devices work. And that’s really an incredible feat.

LCM: Tell us about Energy of Every Day. What’s the message? What’s the goal of the campaign?

DM: We started this campaign about six months ago. The idea is to remind people of the value of what we provide. There's so much that happens in your daily life, from when you wake up to when you go to work to when you come home, that electricity drives.

You think about how transformational this has been over time. Thomas Edison builds his first power station in lower Manhattan to power Wall Street 150 years ago. Today, we have this enormous grid, this grid that's powering economic activity throughout the world. It's an amazing story, and that's what the Energy of Every Day campaign is telling. It's reminding them that everything they do in their lives is powered by us, and we do it as reliably and affordably as possible.

BM: We’re coming up on EEI 2026. Tell us about it.

DM: This is the leading conference for electricity leadership throughout the United States. We're going to have leaders of our companies in Las Vegas, along with leaders of tech companies, our partnerships, and government officials. It's a great opportunity to highlight some of these innovative technologies that we're using that are making the grid more reliable, safer, and keeping costs down—it's really the place to be if you're in electricity.

BM: There's a feeling that AI and data centers are really going to drive up demand for electricity and therefore increase customer bills. Is that true?

DM: It's not. A group called E3 put out a study that highlights the fact that data centers are not driving up costs. It's another one of these inflection points in the U.S. that, if you do this right, data centers can actually put downward pressure on rates.

There have been 23 states that have these large load agreements right now. If you look at those states and what happens after these data centers have been announced, you've had rate freezes in Alabama and Georgia. You've had cost reductions in Louisiana, Indiana, and Michigan. All of these states announcing these future data centers are going to see some downward pressure on their rate.

BM: And is that because the companies are paying back into the system? Where does the downward pressure come from?

DM: It's like if you have a bus, and the bus costs $100. If you have 10 people on that bus, it's $10 a person. But if you add 10 more people on that bus, it's suddenly $5 a person. The grid is a fixed-cost system. When you add a large payer on that system, it helps drive cost down for everyone on the system. It also allows for more investment so the system becomes more reliable over time.

LCM: You mentioned AI data centers. That’s a hot topic. What about these discussions do you think is misleading?

DM: If you take a step back on data centers, we currently have over 4,000 data centers in the U.S. already operating. So much of our daily life involves data centers that we don’t see—online shopping, posting memes on the internet, online banking, health records.

All these activities happen in AI data centers. I think it’s overcoming that natural aversion to data centers. What we have to do is talk about the benefits to customers and dispel the myths that electricity rates are going up because of data centers — because they’re not.

LCM: Who is paying for the new infrastructure to build and maintain the data centers?

DM: The data center companies are paying for it. It’s pure and simple. They’re bringing their own power by paying for that. They’re paying for the interconnection. They’re paying for the grid upgrades. That’s why you see most of this regulated at the state level.

You’ve seen these 23 states and another handful of states pending these large-load agreements which require these data centers to pay their fair share. There’s no free ride that they’re getting. That’s a big myth. You also can’t engage early enough. I think one of the challenges we’re seeing is you have to be transparent about what you’re doing as an AI data center in a community, and you have to engage early.

We've had a history of more than 100 years in most of these communities providing power. We know what it takes to have that customer relationship, and they need to do that as well. They can partner with us in a lot of cases.

BM: Does permitting reform have a chance of passing this year?

DM: It’s the one issue Congress can actually work on that can affect the affordability debate. It takes up to a decade or longer to build transmission lines or generation facilities because of the permitting process. You’ve got to get multiple permits from multiple agencies. The agencies don’t talk to each other. This is an opportunity to fix that.

And the cost of that delay can be up to 25 percent of a project. If Congress wants to do something about affordability with electricity prices, this is a great first step.

I’m really optimistic. I’ve been here about 30 years. I have never seen an effort so focused on trying to get permitting reform done. The number of groups, the resources being put into this, the bipartisan energy trying to get this done—I’m optimistic.

Whether it gets done between now and November or now and December, I don’t know. But I feel like now is the time to do it. There’s a lot of interest on both sides of the aisle and a recognition that we do have to do something.

It’s been too long and these regulations have become too burdensome.

LCM: When you think about regulators and how they plan for short-term and long-term, how do regulators and electric utilities balance investment in long-term infrastructure versus near-term need?

DM: The good news with the utility industry is we plan over a 30- to 50-year process.

We build power plants, transmission lines, distribution systems meant to last 30 to 50 years.

That means we can spread the cost out over that amount of time, which is really better for the customer over the long term.

BM: Charles River Associates recently did a study on your industry. What did they conclude?

DM: They highlighted the fact that data centers are not driving cost for customers.

They also highlighted that about 34 states have kept their average electricity rates below the national average. The whole debate on electricity cost is different region by region. The Southeast has maintained lower rates. California has had higher rates largely because of wildfire mitigation. They’ve had to bury lines and do more to protect wires against fires. That costs money and is ultimately borne by the customer.

In PJM and the New England area, there’s just a lack of generation. It’s a deregulated market, and in a high-growth time period when you can’t control the generation build, the customer is suffering in those marketplaces.

BM: You mentioned deregulation. It sounds like after 20 years they’ve learned some things in the Northeast. Talk about that.

DM: I think the problem is the deregulated market in PJM is broken, and customers are paying the price. The power generators—which can be 50 percent or more of your bill in these markets—are unregulated. That has to get fixed. The states have no real control over them, but they have control over us.

The people getting utility bills get them from us, but more than half of the bill in PJM is not imposed by us. Everyone—including the White House—has acknowledged that the PJM market is not working and that it has to get fixed. We need more steel in the ground. We don't really care who builds it. We'll build it. They can build it. But somebody needs to start building.

If nobody’s building, the generators are going to keep making more money and customers are going to keep paying.

BM: For my entire life Republicans have said deregulation is good and leads to lower prices. Now you’re saying, in this particular case, deregulation is bad and led to higher prices.

DM: I think this is a unique time period. We’re in a very high-growth period. You need a lot of planning, and in this deregulated marketplace it’s tough to match those up.

The generators will say they’re not getting a big enough price to build more. If you think about our obligation to serve, we have to provide power to everybody. That’s why it’s historically been a regulated business. You want everybody treated equally across the system.

If you leave it to a totally deregulated model, everybody flocks to urban areas and rural areas get left behind, because it costs more money to string a wire to fewer people. It’s a model that has worked for 150 years, and we’re very proud of it and committed to our customers.

LCM: You mentioned storm response earlier. Talk about that process and where you’re seeing the greatest impact.

DM: My first experience with a storm at EEI was Winter Storm Fern, which was a huge ice storm that started in Texas and worked its way across the Mid-Atlantic and ended up here with “snowcrete.”

It was a significant event that ended up having about a million homes out of power on Day 1. Ninety percent of those homes were back up within days.

What people don't understand about our industry is we have this huge mutual assistance program. Days before the storm, we get on calls with our government partners in Washington, in states and localities, and all of our other utilities in unaffected states. We mobilized 65,000 line workers from 44 states, working 24/7 in really tough conditions. If there's a line down in a particular county, we know and we send the crew out there. It’s an enormous collective effort where everybody shares.

Not only do they share line workers and personnel, but they share equipment. If you need a transformer in Alabama and there’s one sitting in Idaho, we’ll get it down there. It’s an amazing collective effort to keep the lights on.

LCM: It’s amazing. They’re these unsung heroes that nobody realizes. They’re traveling often from three or four states over to come in and get the line back up and running.

BM: You worked in the first Trump Administration. You worked in the transition going into his second term putting many officials in place. How would you describe your work with the Administration?

DM: We’ve worked very well with the Trump Administration on energy policy issues and find the working relationship to be good. Like a lot of things, you play the long game with any Administration.

We maintain a good working relationship. There are things we don’t always agree on, but, nonetheless, we keep pursuing what we want to do, which is provide more reliable and affordable power.

BM: What decision from the past year are you most proud of?

DM: Hiring a great team. We had a great team at EEI. We built an even stronger team and integrated that team to really deliver the results in this modern-day advocacy environment. That’s been my proudest moment.

BM: What’s one thing you’d like to do over?

DM: If you look back at the year, I was so focused on dealing with everything inside EEI.

I really want to spend next year going out in the field, visiting plant facilities, going to more operations, seeing the line workers and how they actually repair lines. That’s my next-year goal: to get out there and do more in the field and get out of the Washington bubble.

BM: What’s something people in Washington are not thinking about but should be?

DM: I think right now it’s a time period where you don’t have to swat at every fly.

You have to be very calculated in what you’re going to do and you have to play a longer game. Don’t get caught up in the emotion. There’s going to be a negative tweet by somebody. There’s going to be an op-ed you don’t like. There’s going to be a quote in a story you don’t like. But don’t overreact.

You have to have a long game. You have to stay focused and don’t get knocked off it. Most Americans are not paying attention to all the little tweets, op-eds, comments, and papers.

Stay focused on your long game.

In a new interview on The Energy Gang podcast, EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney discussed rising electricity demand and the need for new generation, permitting reform, and responsible data center growth. 

Listen to full episode here. 

Managing Data Center Growth Responsibly: 

“The goal is clear: we don’t want existing ratepayers to bear the burden of new data centers,” Maloney said. “When it’s done right, these investments can actually put downward pressure on rates.” 

He pointed to the increasing number of large-load agreements and the White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, designed to ensure data centers and other large customers pay their fair share and help reduce costs for local families and businesses.  

Historic Electricity Demand and Grid Investment: 

“When you look back at America’s history, the transformational infrastructure investments were railroads, the interstate highway system, and the electric grid,” Maloney said. “Today, we are once again investing in the most critical engine of our economy—the electric grid.” 

“In the last two years, we’ve seen demand growth double, and it will likely continue,” he added. “At the end of the day we need more generation and more steel in the ground.” 

Affordability and Reliability: 

“Americans are feeling cost pressures across the board—food, health care, housing, and energy,” Maloney said. 

He noted that electricity prices vary by region, but data show about 34 states have kept rates below average over the past five years. 

“When Americans flip a light switch, turn on their heat or air conditioning, or plug in their phones, they expect it to work,” he said. “That’s our commitment—to deliver reliable and affordable power every day.” 

PJM and the Need for New Generation: 

Maloney also addressed ongoing challenges in the PJM Interconnection region, highlighting concerns about rising costs and a lack of new generation in the region. 

“There’s bipartisan frustration—from FERC, the White House, and governors—because this is not sustainable,” he said.  

Permitting Reform and Building Infrastructure Faster: 

“We’re seeing momentum around solutions, including permitting reform, which is critical to getting projects built on time and at lower cost,” Maloney said. 

“It can take a decade or longer to build transmission in the United States,” he added. “That delay can increase project costs significantly—and those costs are ultimately borne by customers.” 

Convening Energy and Technology Leaders at EEI 2026 in Las Vegas (June 2-4): 

“At EEI 2026 in Las Vegas, we’ll bring together one of the largest gatherings of electricity experts and thought leaders,” Maloney said. “We’re looking forward to hearing from leaders across the energy and technology sectors as we work together to power America’s future.” 

Duke Energy recently received a waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a single pilot to operate up to four drones beyond visual line of sight—a key designation that will give the company greater flexibility to deploy uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) to protect and maintain the energy grid.

Duke Energy began using drones for storm response in 2015, strategically integrating the technology into its operations. In 2024, drones were used to help reconductor a transmission line in Shelby, N.C., following Hurricane Helene—allowing crews to complete a potentially dangerous and time-consuming task safely and in a matter of hours.

Commercial drone deployment is overseen by the FAA, and certain activities and use cases require specific waivers, including automated, defined flight paths for inspecting infrastructure. Duke Energy already held a waiver allowing its pilots to operate drones beyond visual line of sight—enhancing efficiency and safety and decreasing reliance on ground crews, bucket trucks, and crewed aircraft like helicopters for infrastructure inspections and storm damage assessments. With the company’s new FAA waiver, a single pilot will now be able to operate multiple drones beyond visual line of sight.

Electric companies have increasingly embraced drone technologies to safely and efficiently inspect infrastructure, assist in storm response, and mitigate risks for lineworkers—particularly when high-resolution cameras, light detection ranging sensors, and thermal sensors are implemented.

This is the latest example of an EEI member company utilizing drones to enhance inspections while lowering costs. Dominion Energy is one of several electric companies using a combination of drones and AI to more frequently inspect infrastructure and more quickly make maintenance decisions. The Southwestern Electric Power Company, meanwhile, is using drones to assist in tree trimming and vegetation management efforts in Louisiana and Texas.

Last year, Southern Company received FAA approval for UAS flights beyond visual line of sight to monitor energy infrastructure, assess storm damage, and respond proactively to potential issues with the energy grid.

Florida Power & Light, similarly, began flying its FPLAir One drone in 2022. At the time, it was the first fixed-wing drone of its size to be operated commercially outside of an FAA test site. Xcel Energy was the first to receive FAA approval to utilize UAS technologies to survey transmission lines back in 2018.

More than a decade ago, the attack on Ukraine’s energy grid felt like a surprising watershed, proof that cyber operators could reach through keyboards to shut off the lights. This marked a shift into a new phase of geopolitical conflict: one defined by cyber-attacks manifesting physical world effects, particularly against critical infrastructure. Since 2015, there have been ransomware attacks against major oil systems, healthcare systems, and water systems in the United States and across the globe. Cyber criminals are conducting reconnaissance and pre-positioning for future operations, and are coordinating actions on a larger scale, like the recent cyber-attack against Poland’s energy sector. 

Today, the threat to critical infrastructure, particularly in the United States, remains a top priority for industry and government. Adversaries are more patient, better resourced, and increasingly exploring how to enhance their attacks using advanced AI capabilities. Many critical infrastructure operators also are working to integrate AI technologies into their cyber defense plans and operations. The race between defenders and attackers is on and it is unclear what side will win. 

One key to successfully protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure is to establish and sustain intra-sector, inter-sector, and public-private partnerships. These distinct partnership types can help organizations operating and supporting critical infrastructure effectively and efficiently prepare for, respond to, and recover from cyber-attacks.

Intra-sector partnerships are perhaps the most efficient and effective approaches given an industry’s relatively shared threat landscape, security tool usage, and operational risks. When organizations within a critical sector share threat intelligence on potential or actual cyber-attacks, the entire industry can strengthen resilience to prevent threat actors from successfully scaling their attacks. Within the electric power sector, the Cyber Mutual Assistance (CMA) Program serves as a decades-long proven model of collective defense. Following the 2015 attack on Ukraine’s electric grid, a group of CEOs within the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC) convened to discuss ways to prevent a similar outage, and CMA was born. Today, CMA is a group of security experts representing more than 210 electric and natural gas entities that stand ready to provide mutual assistance in the event of a significant cyber incident. This kind of support is vital in a shifting threat landscape where it is increasingly difficult for a single organization to defend itself against a growing number of malicious actors. 

In addition to mutual assistance, it’s important for organizations within a sector to participate in joint exercises that challenge assumptions, strengthen relationships, and build resilience. For example, the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center hosted its eighth biennial GridEx exercise. This cyber and physical security exercise convened thousands of experts from across the electric power industry and government partners to assess and improve their responses to simulated attacks on the energy grid. GridEx helps to inform organizational planning and budget priorities that can strengthen the overall resilience of the U.S. energy grid.

Inter-sector partnerships are a natural expansion from those within an industry. No critical infrastructure sector has a monopoly on security threats or the experts to help defend against them, and many facets of U.S. critical infrastructure are interconnected and interdependent. As Volt and Salt Typhoon revealed, threat actors aim to burrow into multiple critical sectors with the goal of having the ability to disrupt U.S. economic and national security. Therefore, it’s imperative to work across sectors to better understand how adversaries are targeting critical infrastructure and to better strengthen it. 

Another recent example is the 2024 CrowdStrike outage that made computers inoperable in organizations across the transportation, financial, and healthcare sectors. 

Finally, critical industries and government must renew their commitment to public-private partnerships. The Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency launched the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative in 2021 to unify public and private sector cyber defenses through real-time, bi-directional intelligence sharing operational planning. Two years later, the Department of Energy piloted the Energy Threat Analysis Center (ETAC) to fuse industry data with government intelligence so cyber defenders can identify, analyze, and mitigate threats together. ETAC experts from public power utilities, electric cooperatives, investor-owned electric companies, and oil and natural gas entities analyze threat intelligence in real time, assess potential impacts to the energy sector, and develop risk mitigations that are broadly shared by Information Sharing and Analysis Centers to energy providers across the country. These examples of public-private partnerships leading to operational collaboration can be extrapolated across other critical sectors.

America’s adversaries are constantly enhancing their cyber-attacks and increasingly looking for ways to compromise critical infrastructure. We must continue to meet these challenges head on by leveraging intra-sector, inter-sector, and public-private partnerships. Cyber resilience is the goal; partnership is how we achieve it.
 

The electric power industry is a key economic driver for the United States, accounting for 1 in 20 American jobs and 5 percent of U.S. GDP. Workforce development is a top priority for electric companies as they expand and strengthen the grid and power the jobs and industries of the future.

FirstEnergy Pennsylvania President John Hawkins and Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) Executive Director Missy Henriksen recently joined an episode of the Electric Perspectives podcast to share their thoughts on attracting, retaining, and developing a skilled energy workforce. The episode was hosted by EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney.

Following is an abbreviated transcript, lightly edited for length and clarity. To listen to the full episode and catch up with other recent interviews, visit electricperspectives.com/podcast.

Drew Maloney (DM): Missy, can you give us a snapshot of the current energy workforce and the role that it plays in supporting our economy?

Missy Henriksen (MH): Absolutely. The U.S. Energy and Employment report that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently published found that there were 8.5 million people working directly in energy jobs in 2024.

We often talk about the electric power industry being 5 percent of the GDP—the first 5 percent, of course, because nothing works without energy. That holds true on the human capital side, as well. We account for 5 percent of the jobs in this country, keeping the lights on and keeping things moving for the nation.

DM: John, you lead one of the largest electric companies in Pennsylvania. What does a highly skilled workforce mean for ensuring reliability and serving your customers?

John Hawkins (JH): Our communities rely on a resilient and reliable electric grid, so we have to have a workforce that has advanced skills and expertise to deliver on those expectations—especially during this period of rapid industry transformation.

At FirstEnergy, we serve 6 million-plus customers in six states. We're investing $28 billion across our footprint through 2029. In Pennsylvania, that includes $15 billion in infrastructure enhancements, people, processes, and facilities—and the key word there is “people.”

We have to have a highly skilled workforce to complete this work safely and efficiently, allowing us to meet those expectations of our customers and communities.

DM: Missy, let me turn back to you. CEWD regularly publishes reports about the energy workforce. What trends are you seeing, and what do they mean for the next generation of energy professionals?

MH: We’re really seeing employers looking at their hiring practices with a great deal of innovation as they think about workforce development differently. It’s no longer, “Hey, HR, we need to hire some people,” but it’s an increasing commitment to the long game and attracting talent.

We’re seeing companies work together more closely in these efforts so that a rising tide will lift all boats. We're seeing, increasingly, a commitment to sector solutions and working together on major workforce opportunities and challenges, instead of every company looking at moving mountains on their own.

About 50 percent of the workforce is expected to retire in the next 5 to 10 years, which is evoking a need to focus on knowledge transfer and making sure we've got a strong talent pipeline to follow those exiting the workforce.

We're also seeing major conversation around the increasing reliance on digital skills and what that means for pre-employment training and upskilling the existing workforce. These are just some of the conversations driving significant industry action.

DM: You also were the former chair of the 21st Century Energy Workforce Advisory Board (EWAB), helping to shape the future energy workforce from the federal level. Can you share more about your work with EWAB and how you worked with DOE on workforce development strategies?

MH: Absolutely. EWAB was formed under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to advise the U.S. Secretary of Energy on developing a skilled energy workforce to meet current and future labor needs.

We were thrilled to be called on early in the current Administration’s transition to support Energy Secretary Chris Wright and his team with recommendations to develop and implement workforce strategy. We worked really closely with the Office of Energy Jobs within DOE, and they were tremendous thought and action partners in our work.

Our recommendations to Secretary Wright included providing significant support to scale pathways for well-paying, high-quality energy jobs. We focused on new ways to get people into energy roles, including through career and technical education, apprenticeships, and other earn-and-learn models.

The Administration is focusing a lot of emphasis on the importance of registered apprenticeship programs, so we're also making recommendations on the importance of increasing awareness and excitement around energy careers—for career-ready adults and for students.

Also, our recommendations focused on positioning DOE as a leader for innovative, effective, non-siloed solutions to support the development of the workforce as a sector. I think DOE is really making the commitment that they're not just focusing on the technology side of the industry—but, certainly, the people side, as well.

We are thrilled to know that Secretary Wright actually concurred with the overarching recommendations that we put forward. He has committed to developing an energy workforce strategy that enables effective workforce planning and supports the development of a highly skilled workforce. We're excited to see what comes out of that and we're expecting it to be published this fall.

DM: John, coming back to you, FirstEnergy has been recognized for its workforce development and apprenticeship programs, including your Power Systems Institute. Can you tell us how these programs work and what makes them successful?

JH: At FirstEnergy, we are growing and investing in our team, which we know to be the heart of operating a modern grid. We have more than 11,500 FirstEnergy employees dedicated to safety, reliability, and operational excellence.

Through our Power Systems Institute, we've trained nearly 2,600 line and substation workers. This model was unpaid, because we were paying for workers’ education to understand the theory part of the equation. During the summer, enrollees would get paid on-the-job training.

What we found with that model is that it was challenging for some who had families. So, in 2023, we transitioned to a paid apprenticeship model, more in-step with today's competitive labor market. Now, candidates are hired at the onset of the apprenticeship program, so that makes it more accessible to a lot more individuals.

We’re also targeting our hiring to keep workers in areas where they want to be, which helps minimize turnover. We have a lot of opportunities here. Our apprentices can obtain a college degree with financial assistance that we provide. We are working to get our program certified by the Department of Labor, which will make it nationally recognized and increase the appeal to candidates. It will also allow us to access funding and incentives and build union confidence, which is really critical to a successful program.

DM: Missy, CEWD supports programs across the country that help companies replicate successful workforce models like what John’s describing at FirstEnergy. What guidance would you give to electric companies that are working on building their own workforce pipelines?

MH: The first answer would be to call John and his team. You all are doing some incredible work up there. I really appreciate hearing more about the focus you've put on apprenticeships and now DOL-registered apprenticeship programs. I think that will be a game changer as we move forward in the industry.

I also can't stress enough the importance of partnerships. There's a lot of work to be done—a lot of opportunities for the industry to attract a highly skilled energy workforce—that is best done through partnerships.

Community outreach and engagement is important, because workforce development is a long game. The more we build effective partnerships—effective relationships with community-based organizations, community colleges, technical schools, workforce boards, and workforce systems and communities—those efforts will go a long way in making sure that there's fruit on those trees as we get down the road.

The other thing that is a game changer for workforce development is the introduction of the new Energy and Natural Resources Career Cluster, which is providing the first opportunity the industry has had in 25 years to more easily get energy curriculum into classrooms.

As companies are preparing for their future workforce strategies, perhaps putting the fine print on what they'll be doing in 2026, I can't stress enough the importance of the opportunities that are being enabled by that Career Cluster.

DM: John, is there any advice you would give to your energy company colleagues out there on how to pursue programs like this?

JH: I think Missy and I are reading from the same playbook. One of the keys to making this possible is the partnerships, and one of our industry’s most important partnerships is with our partners in organized labor.

When we set out on developing our new apprenticeship program, we engaged and partnered with both our International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Utility Workers Union of America partners. The entire way, they were part of building a curriculum, the evaluation process, the interviews to ensure that together we are aligned on the candidates who will lead us forward. These aren't just jobs. These are careers, and we felt this wouldn't have been possible without our union partners. We're extremely grateful for their partnership.

DM: John, as we look to the future, new technologies are creating new kinds of energy jobs. What are some of the emerging opportunities that you’re seeing?

JH: Technology really has the potential to reduce manual and hazardous tasks, so we can allow folks to focus on high-value activities, especially with a focus on improving safety and job satisfaction. Using drones, for example, has been impactful, helping us with aerial inspections during storms or during day-to-day work.

When you think about our service territory in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, we’ve got mountains. Drones help speed our bias for action when we have events, and we're using some AI-driven advanced analytics when it comes to vegetation.

We have a lot of poles, we have a lot of wires, and we also have a lot of trees. We know how impactful trees can be to our electric service quality, so we have an advanced vegetation analytics tool that we've designed to predict and reduce tree-related outages before they occur. Through machine learning and taking internal data; external data on soil, weather, outage records, and geographical topography; and aerial photos, we can identify problematic trees so to minimize outages and manage our crews more effectively.

DM: For each of you, what do you believe will make the biggest impact on strengthening America's energy workforce in the next several years?

JH: Two words: Act now. It takes four to five years to develop a certified lineworker. Based on the level of demand growth we're seeing, we can't waste another moment in ensuring that we're prepared to deliver on the needs of our customers and communities.

And, it's not just lineworkers. There are a lot of important positions to fill in this space. As we're thinking about the future, we need to consider how we can best be positioned to lead on technology and AI.

MH: Prioritizing workforce development is a Page One issue. You also need to engage not just on your own, but through sector strategies—working with others at the state and national level. And, get involved with the Energy and Natural Resources Career Cluster. Just make sure, as John said, to act now. Make workforce development a priority.

A pair of proposed Entergy Texas natural gas power plants capable of powering more than 300,000 homes recently received regulatory approval, with plans to have both facilities in service by mid-2028.

The Legend and Lone Star power stations will collectively add more than 1,200 megawatts to the Southeast Texas energy grid and are expected to generate $2.8 billion in economic activity. Construction alone is expected to create more than 9,000 jobs in the Port Arthur and Cleveland areas.

“We’ve heard directly from our customers and communities about the need for more power to support our rapidly growing region, and these facilities will deliver just that,” said Entergy Texas CEO Eliecer Viamontes. “From families and business owners to schools and essential services, these power plants strengthen our ability to serve our customers who count on us every day. It’s also a reflection of the extraordinary expansion in our service area and our continued commitment to meeting that growth head-on.”

The projects are the latest efforts from Entergy Texas to enhance and expand the grid throughout the company’s service territory. Earlier in September, Entergy Texas completed construction on a $110 million reliability project that effectively doubles the power supply in the Bolivar Peninsula region. In June, Entergy Texas proposed two major transmission projects as part of its Southeast Texas Energy Plan—a long-term strategy to power economic growth, strengthen reliability, and support local communities.

Entergy Texas will invest roughly $2.4 billion in the new natural gas facilities—part of investor-owned electric companies’ broader plans to invest more than $1.1 trillion during the next five years to power economic prosperity and build new critical energy infrastructure of all kinds.

Rapid deployment of new energy infrastructure—including generation, transmission, and pipelines—is the lynchpin to providing more energy to our customers, meeting growing energy demand, and winning the AI race.

Learn more about investor-owned electric companies’ plans to invest in the grid at eei.org.

Harry Sideris is president and CEO of Duke Energy, having served in various leadership roles at the organization for nearly three decades.

Sideris recently joined the Electric Perspectives podcast to discuss his vision for Duke Energy and reflect on the devastating 2024 hurricane season.

Following is an abbreviated transcript, lightly edited for length and clarity. To listen to the full episode and catch up with other recent interviews, visit electricperspectives.com/podcast.

Electric Perspectives (EP): You’ve had a long career in the energy industry and at Duke Energy. Tell us about your career journey and how your background is shaping your leadership of the company?

Harry Sideris (HS): I've had the honor and privilege of working for Duke Energy and its predecessors for almost 30 years. It all started with responding to a classified ad in the newspaper. I know that's a foreign concept to people today. That's how I ended up getting my job at Carolina Power & Light (CP&L) back in 1996.

As an engineer, I thought I was applying for a job at a power plant, solving mechanical, chemical, and process issues. I quickly learned there was so much more to working at CP&L and in the power industry. Our product is so vital to life. I fell in love with the sense of purpose I got coming to work every day, knowing that I was making a difference and that our product had a real impact.

At Duke Energy, our purpose is to power the lives of our customers and the vitality of our communities. Throughout my 30 years here, I have seen our employees volunteer with their communities, teach children about electricity at schools, and support vulnerable customers working to provide for their families. Seeing those efforts firsthand is something that I love about our company.

I've had 20 different roles at this company. I've done a little bit of everything, so I feel perfectly suited to running each and every aspect of our business, providing reliable and affordable service to our customers.

EP: What is your vision for Duke Energy, particularly as the energy landscape continues to rapidly evolve?

HS: My vision for Duke Energy is simple: We want to continue to operate as the premier electric company, with a reputation for reliable and affordable service for our customers. We want to be the company that people want to work for, where they can build meaningful and prosperous careers and feel empowered to make decisions that serve their communities.

We put customers first in everything that we do. We're ensuring reliability while serving our customers at the lowest possible cost. We are a company that's there for customers, both when a storm hits and when times are good.

We are mindful of the vast array of stakeholders out there, including regulators, politicians, large customers. We want to be known as an honest broker that contributes to energy policy discussions while looking for ways to make the communities and the states we serve better through economic development.

Finally, we strive to be a company that investors believe in and trust to deliver results and value—that they want to be invested in for the long term. With the demand growth that we're seeing, we're blessed to serve some of the fastest-growing states in the country. We are prepared for this moment, serving our customers and meeting this dynamic growth.

We are working directly with stakeholders and our states, and we're doing some great things. Earlier this year, we announced a contract with GE Vernova that will allow us to reserve gas turbines, which will allow us to move quickly and meet this explosive growth. In June, we announced the largest economic development project in the history of North Carolina, partnering with Amazon Web Services on a data center campus in Richmond County. It's a $10 billion investment that will create 500-plus jobs. Particularly in a rural community, that's going to have a huge impact.

EP: You’ve been outspoken about Duke Energy’s storm response work. Last year, Hurricane Helene’s destructive winds and catastrophic flooding devastated the Carolinas and several other states that you serve. What can you share about Duke Energy’s response and recovery efforts following Helene and how that informs your work today?

HS: We had quite the fall last year. We had three storms back-to-back-to-back: Debby, Helene, and Milton. All hit Florida, and all moved up the coast into the Carolinas. Helene, which was the most destructive of the three, hit all seven states that we serve. We saw 3.4 million outages during Helene and 5 million across the three storms combined.

I'm so proud of our team and how they responded to all these storms, particularly Helene. No one could have imagined the destruction that we saw in western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. I grew up in Asheville, N.C., so it was personal for me to see the destruction, to think about 18 feet of water coming down the valley, washing out our substations, our poles, our homes, and our cars. It was just so devastating. In upstate South Carolina, there aren’t very many trees left from that storm. It seemed like every one of them was toppled last fall.

I joined our teams on the ground soon after the storms passed. It was heartbreaking to see some of the sites where, as a kid and as a teenager, I used to drive around. Seeing the destruction where my dad worked, where I set up my first bank account when I was 5 years old—it was very impactful to us.

We have a mantra here at Duke Energy that everybody has a storm role. So, when something like this happens, all 26,000 people at the company get behind it and work tirelessly, sometimes 16-plus hours a day, to make sure that we're getting the lights back on for our customers. That’s what really helps them find a sense of normalcy to start rebuilding.

The Duke Energy Foundation also did a tremendous job supporting our local communities—supporting food banks, many of which were washed out by floodwaters. We partnered with these communities that we've been a part of, in some cases, for more than 100 years, making sure they rebuilt and rebuilt well. We've been at it for the past year, because this work doesn't end when you get the lights on.

EP: Following the storms, Duke Energy replaced 16,000 poles, 13,000 transformers, and more than 9 million feet of wire. That’s a tremendous amount of work that your team undertook.

HS: It was unbelievable. We had to move poles in with helicopters, because roads were washed out. The amount of wire that we replaced would have been long enough to stretch from Charlotte to Denver.

And, in a lot of these impacted areas, the level of damage was just something we had never experienced before. Roads were completely washed out. Crew quarters didn't have running water, because Asheville did not have water for almost two months. We made it a priority to serve our lineworkers and our employees on the ground, making sure they had what they needed to be successful in their restoration.

EP: What can you share about the grid enhancements and broader resilience work that Duke Energy is leading now?

HS: I always say that the grid is the eighth wonder of the world. It is truly an engineering marvel in how it handles the puts and takes of the system—how it serves customers and handles extreme weather, particularly during hurricane season but also during ice season.

We've invested $70 billion to upgrade the grid across our service territory. We are installing smart devices, replacing wooden poles with concrete and metal poles, building flood protection around our substations.

We're also continuing to invest in technology. Our self-optimizing grid technology is something we've been focused on—I call it the GPS for the grid. When something happens, it's able to reroute power around the issue, saving many, many hours of customer outages. Last year alone, we avoided 1.5 million outages by quickly rerouting power.

We plan to invest more than $100 billion in our grid during the next decade, continuing to strengthen it, make it smarter, and help us meet demand growth. We're all in on making sure that eighth wonder of the world continues to operate reliably and affordably for our customers.

EP: How do you and your team think about balancing the investments that are needed today with maintaining affordability for customers? And, how are you discussing this with customers?

HS: : Affordability is front and center on every customer's mind. A lot of folks are struggling to make ends meet. We've always focused on reliability and affordability as we meet our customers’ needs, and it's no different now. We always look at what is the most reliable solution—but also what is the lowest-cost way we can deliver that reliability.

We continue to look for other opportunities to support our customers and lower their bills. Earlier this year, we worked with our partners in Washington to ensure that the $500 million in tax credits earned by our nuclear plants—which are safe, reliable, and cost effective—flow directly back to customers annually to help offset investment.

We're also focused on working with data centers and other customers with substantial energy demands. We are making sure that these large loads pay their portion of infrastructure investments, so that work doesn’t drive up bills for residential customers.

And, we spend a lot of time focusing on our vulnerable customers—those that have the greatest financial need. We distribute more than $130 million per year in federal and local assistance to help customers pay their bills, and the Duke Energy Foundation works directly in our communities to help vulnerable customers working to make ends meet. Electricity is a vital part of everybody's life.

EP: Duke Energy is a key driver of economic development in your service territory. How are you meeting growing energy demand while supporting and creating new opportunities for your communities?

HS: We are truly blessed to serve the communities that we do in the Southeast and Midwest. They are some of the fastest growing regions in the country. We have added more than 200,000 customers two years in a row, and we are on pace to do so again this year.

A lot of people are migrating here. We also have a lot of manufacturing facilities going in, and plants and data centers are expanding. It feels like everywhere we turn, there are opportunities to add data centers. We are focused on moving quicker, working with customers, and meeting the moment.

We are truly at the front and center of economic development. We will help create more than 160,000 jobs on an annual basis, based on our investment plan going forward. That activity will generate more than $130 billion in labor income and $370 billion in overall economic impact.

EP: “Calm is contagious” is one of your mantras. What does that phrase mean to you, and how does it influence your leadership style?

HS: I wish I had made that up myself. I stole it from the Navy Seals. That is their mantra as well. Calm is contagious because, when you're on a mission, you don't need people to be nervous. You don't need people to overreact. You want to be in lockstep. You want to have clarity of thought as you're making decisions. I think that's a core leadership principle here at Duke Energy.

We're in a high-stakes industry, and we have to have clear thinking, sound decision making, and effective action, particularly during a storm or when we’re under pressure. We need to stay calm, involve all stakeholders, talk to customers and regulators, and make sure our employees have a voice. That empowers everybody to come up with the right decision and avoid the bad decisions. “Calm is contagious” is something I've always subscribed to in my career, and I think it serves us well.

This summer, EEI welcomed Drew Maloney as its new president and CEO. Maloney has spent the past 30 years at the cross-section of politics and policy.

He previously served as president and CEO of the American Investment Council (AIC), where he built a reputation for effective industry advocacy and strategic leadership. Prior to that, he was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Legislative Affairs.

Maloney appeared on the Electric Perspectives podcast to discuss his priorities for EEI; the electric power industry’s commitment to providing reliable, affordable energy for customers nationwide; and how the industry is strengthening America’s energy dominance.

Electric Perspectives (EP): During your first few months in your role, what are your first impressions of the work underway at EEI and with its member companies?

Drew Maloney (DM): This is a tremendous time to be involved in the electric power industry. I have been impressed with the amount of work underway, and the commitment to energy policy, here at EEI.

Member engagement is one of the unique values that EEI has, and members are really engaged in policy discussion.

An example of the commitment our members have to the customers they serve is the annual EEI Emergency Response Awards. What some of these members have done for disaster relief in their communities is just amazing. In a matter of days, they've rebuilt millions and billions of dollars of infrastructure that was impacted by storms, wildfires, or extreme weather. This kind of response—and this type of commitment to communities—really stands out for our members.

EP: What led you to EEI, and how will you leverage your background and expertise as EEI and its members engage in policy discussions?

DM: When I started my young career as a staffer on Capitol Hill, energy was one of the first areas with which I was involved. I was working for a lawmaker from Mississippi, and I distinctly remember Southern Company and Entergy coming into our offices to educate me on energy policy.

Ever since, I've had a fondness for energy. I later ended up working for an oil and gas company and am now leading EEI. This is the culmination of my policy background—understanding how Washington works and how to navigate that to achieve outcomes that help our members serve their customers in a reliable, affordable way.

EP: What insights can you share about cutting through the noise in Washington and working with our partners on Capitol Hill?

DM: Washington has become a very noisy place. It requires you to stay focused on what your message is and to repeat your message, because so many other people are out there with their own messages.

A lot of people make the mistake of being too complicated in their messaging. You really need to focus on your one pager. 

The other thing to remember is that you have to build champions to achieve the legislative outcomes that you want in Washington, and those champions aren't always built in Washington. EEI’s secret sauce is that we build those champions in every community across America. That's how you are ultimately successful in advancing policy goals.

EP: Things also change quickly in Washington. How are you making sure EEI is ready to engage and to create opportunities for changing the conversation?

DM: I've given a lot of thought to what makes a trade association successful. In today's very complex and noisy environment, you have to be very proactive, very nimble, and very impactful. That's the culture that I want to build out at EEI.

We have to be ahead of the curve. In the current construct, you could have state policies, federal policies, or engagement on Capitol Hill switching on a dime. As an organization, you have to be able to act quickly.

You also need to create a “surround sound” supporting your advocacy. It used to be that you just had a team of lobbyists that would advocate on your behalf. Today, you not only need that team of lobbyists—you need support from third-party advocates. You need partners out there who are supporting you.

You have other trade associations working with you. You have a social media plan. You have research. You have all these other items out there that complement what you’re doing. You have to make sure they’re all working in concert to deliver the message and deliver the value and the advocacy that you need.

You have to be a results-oriented organization. That’s exactly what I intend EEI to be. I can already see, as we’re responding to different needs with the Administration, how we’re being proactive and how we’re being nimble. That’s how you get the impact that you want here in Washington.

EP: Earlier this summer, you attended the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, which was hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA). What did you think of the event? How were attendees thinking about the role that electric companies play in these conversations?

DM: We are at a unique moment in time, with unprecedented growth in the energy sector. You have the reshoring of manufacturing that's requiring more energy. You have AI and innovation requiring more energy. You're seeing electrification—whether that involves cars or homes—raising demand for energy.

We have a critical role to play, and we are playing that critical role to meet demand. What that event allowed us to do is highlight the investments we're making and show the partnerships we're forging in the private sector to deliver power in a reliable and responsible way.

EP: Earlier this summer, you attended the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, which was hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA). What did you think of the event? How were attendees thinking about the role that electric companies play in these conversations?

DM: We are at a unique moment in time, with unprecedented growth in the energy sector. You have the reshoring of manufacturing that's requiring more energy. You have AI and innovation requiring more energy. You're seeing electrification—whether that involves cars or homes—raising demand for energy.

We have a critical role to play, and we are playing that critical role to meet demand. What that event allowed us to do is highlight the investments we're making and show the partnerships we're forging in the private sector to deliver power in a reliable and responsible way.

EP: Was it encouraging to see participation from President Donald Trump?

DM: Yes, and there was an incredible turnout. We also had Gov. Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was there. It really showed a bipartisan breadth of support for innovation and for energy. We also had several of our Pennsylvania members in attendance talking about the investments and commitments they're making to drive innovation and economic activity.

EP: EEI recently published its annual Financial Review, which detailed the industry’s financial performance during the past year. What are your key takeaways from the report?

DM: What stood out to me is the scale of investment planned in the years ahead. We’re projected to invest more than $1.1 trillion into energy infrastructure across America during the next five years. And, I actually think that number could be conservative.

That demonstrates that we are a partner for local communities. We're a partner for the government. We are working with a spectrum of stakeholders to meet energy demand in our communities while prioritizing affordability for customers, for small businesses, for farmers, all while meeting our nation’s growth and innovation needs.

EP: Earlier, you mentioned the importance of strategic communication and storytelling in Washington. How did you think about these priorities at AIC, and what do you think can be applied to your work at EEI?

DM: A great example of an opportunity for EEI would be the Emergency Response Awards, highlighting what our member companies have done in their communities to respond to natural disasters—or partnerships that we have with different groups that enhance or demonstrate our customer solutions.

Every industry is challenged with getting their story out, especially in Washington, where everyone is trying to tell their own story. You just can't tell your story often enough, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.

I want to improve our storytelling. I want to tell our stories more often. I want to be louder about it. I want to make sure that the stories we're telling are being told in the communities that our members serve. Then, we need to translate those stories in Washington, because these are great stories. We're great community partners, and we need to be better about highlighting our stories.

EP: For many years, EEI’s tagline has been Power by Association^SM. What does that concept mean to you as you think about delivering value to EEI’s members?

DM: EEI’s CEO engagement is unique. Our member companies want to see their message and their policy successful here in Washington. What EEI's mantra—“Power by Association”—means is that we can accomplish a lot more by working together. When the most successful companies in Washington can come together with one single voice, they are so much more effective. 

As a former government worker, having worked on Capitol Hill and in a previous Administration, I would go to trade associations when I wanted to get a view on energy or financial services. They represent the collective voice, and it's easier for a policymaker to go one-stop shopping as opposed to piecing together the views of different member companies.

When we as EEI come in, we bring member companies, and we bring one unified voice. That is a real value add that we have at EEI.

EP: Switching gears, you serve as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Meridian International Center. You and your wife established the Klein-Maloney Fellowship for Women in the Sciences at your alma mater, Randolph-Macon College. What more can you share about your philanthropic work and life outside of EEI?

DM: My wife and I met in college. She's a very accomplished scientist at Johns Hopkins University. She studies women's health, and she noticed a need for more women going into scientific fields. We decided to create a fellowship at our alma mater, encouraging women to perform research projects during the summer that we fund.

It's very exciting for her and for me, as well. We're the parents of two daughters, so we're committed to making sure that they have a path forward in life. We thought it was important to give back, because our college was instrumental in our lives.

The Meridian International Center’s global diplomacy work also is very important. While most of our activities at EEI are focused on domestic markets, what happens overseas and the trends that you see internationally are important and ultimately influence what happens in the United States.

I have always been interested in that sort of work, and it helps make me a better advocate who has a better grasp on what's happening in other regions of the world that may influence what we do here at home.

EP: During EEI 2025 in New Orleans, you mentioned that your first job was a sheep and poultry farm worker. Did you learn any lessons in that role that still guide you today?

DM: You have to get up early to finish your chores on a farm. I'm glad that, today, I don't have the same chores that I did when I was a young 4-H and FFA member. But, that sort of work does teach you responsibility early on.

I grew up in a rural part of Virginia, and I've lived in Washington, D.C., for most of my adult life. I appreciate having that perspective, understanding the challenges faced by people on a farm where I grew up. I have a better understanding of what and how to communicate with different audiences, because I feel like I've lived in different places.

I really do treasure growing up on a farm, raising sheep, going to the county fair. It was a lot of fun, and I wish my kids had that same opportunity.

On a recent episode of the

Following is an abbreviated writeup of Anthony’s interview with EP, lightly edited for length and clarity. To catch up with other recent interviews, visit electricperspectives.com/podcast.

Electric Perspectives (EP): Tell us a little bit about your background.

Tyler Anthony (TA): I've spent more than three decades in the energy industry, with more than 20 years in nuclear and 15 years on the transmission and distribution side of the business. That perspective has shaped how I approach this role at Pepco Holdings, where we serve more than 2 million customers across Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and here in Washington, D.C., including some of the country's most critical government and institutional facilities.

We take that responsibility very seriously at Pepco. It's an honor to serve this area. Our mission is to deliver safe, reliable, and affordable power to these communities, and that includes ensuring continuity for the institutions that keep our region and our nation running.

We're doing all of this at a time when the energy landscape is undergoing, frankly, unprecedented change. In the last five years, we've seen more transformation than we had in the previous 50. From the rapid growth of data centers and electric vehicles to the impacts of climate change and evolving customer expectations, our grid is under more pressure than ever. 

At the same time, exciting opportunities are emerging. We're seeing a resurgence of interest in clean, baseload generation like nuclear. I'm looking forward to talking more about how we're responding to surging demand, especially from areas like AI and data centers, how we're investing in grid modernization to prepare for what's ahead, and how we're building the workforce needed to power this transformation in a way that's equitable and lasting.

EP: The rapid growth of AI and data centers is accelerating grid transformation. At the same time, the industry is navigating rising electricity demand and extreme weather events. How is Pepco developing long-term plans to power its communities in the face of all of these sometimes-competing dynamics?

TA: We're at an inflection point. The convergence of AI, data center growth, electrification, and extreme weather is transforming the energy system faster than anything I've seen in my 30-plus years in the industry. As an example, battery storage at scale in the United States is poised to more than double during the next two years and will close out 2026 at nearly 65 gigawatts (GW). When you put that in perspective, it's a rapid rise from the 17 GW in the first quarter projected for 2024. A gigawatt is roughly equivalent to building an entire nuclear power station.

At Pepco, we're focused on energy security as older baseload resources that operate 24/7 retire and new energy resources come online. We've retired all the fossil generation in New Jersey. We've just retired the last fossil plant in Delaware in December of last year. That just means the need for renewables will continue as we build these larger baseload, 24/7 resources.

We also are advocating for market and policy reforms that ensure large-scale users like data centers pay their fair share, and that customers aren't left shouldering the costs of rapid transformation. Both Pepco and Exelon Corporation support co-location of data centers with energy generation. We see that as a key part of the solution, but it has to be done responsibly. We need to ensure that it doesn't drive up costs for residents and small businesses while also helping position the United States to lead in the global race for AI.

This is all about national security. And, it's about striking the right balance between growth and accountability, innovation, and equality. As long as we're working together—electric companies, policymakers, regulators, as well as our partners in labor in our communities—we can solve these issues and continue to advance improvements to the grid. I can't stress enough the importance of partnerships.

This moment calls for urgency but also discipline. We can move fast and still do it the right way. 

EP: Can you tell us more about Pepco’s Capital Grid project?

TA: I mentioned the importance of partnerships. The Capital Grid project pulled all of our regional partnerships together to essentially set a foundation with our stakeholders to put a $1.6-billion investment in the future of energy in Washington, D.C.

It's going to serve as a springboard to our long-term strategy to enhance the energy grid. The project was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our employees to work on something that is transformative for our customers, our communities, and our partners. It essentially puts 230 kilovolts 25 feet into the ground across the entire District of Columbia, increasing capacity and replacing aged infrastructure.

The Capital Grid project started in 2016, and we're quickly coming to its conclusion.

EP: Exelon, which is the parent company of Pepco, recently announced a $50-million charitable contribution to help customers in need of financial assistance across its network. Can you tell us about Pepco's role in this program and how it will help customers?

TA: This is one of the reasons I'm so proud to work for Exelon. We spend a great amount of time in our communities, and that builds a level of trust. What we've seen across the different jurisdictions, as supply costs have increased, is that our customers’ bills are increasing.

Exelon and companies like Pepco asked ourselves: What more can we do? How can we be part of the solution? This was a step in that direction—to say to our customers, ‘We're here for you.’ We're part of the broader community. It's very important that we show up when our customers are in need in any way that we can. This is another step in that direction—to build that trust with our community and our customers.

EP: What can you tell us about your focus on ensuring customer bills are as low as possible? 

TA: This is probably the top issue facing our industry, facing Exelon, and facing Pepco. We're taking it very seriously. Our relief fund is a big step in the right direction. However, there's a lot more going on behind the scenes as we try to drive costs down.

There are four areas that we're focused on currently. One is reforms on the supply side with the PJM Interconnection, looking at how we keep dispatchable resources affordable and available for customers.

The second is our internal costs, looking at how we keep these as low as possible and get the most out of every dollar we spend.

Third, we're working to educate customers. In our customer portal, customers can get weekly and daily updates on the energy they're using, how it compares over time, and how much they're spending. This keeps them more active, because nobody wants a surprise bill. In Washington, D.C., where temperatures can get close to 100 degrees this time of year, more energy will go toward running air conditioners. We have to keep customers informed and help them manage their energy.

Our fourth and final area of focus relates to our regulators and our partners and includes energy efficiency programs, energy efficiency audits, what we're doing around rate structure for low- to moderate-income customers, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and federal programs, and how we’re connecting all of this to customers. 

On August 5, the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a proposed rule that would streamline the approval process associated with operating commercial uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) beyond visual line of sight.

The proposed rule would set specific criteria for commercial, long-range UAS operations at or below 400 feet, including adherence to certain cybersecurity provisions, safety best practices, and other industry standards. It would apply to companies operating UAS fleets for specific purposes, including package delivery, agriculture, aerial surveillance, and civic interest. A public comment window will remain open for 60 days before potential implementation.

Current regulations require UAS operators to either position staff on the ground to oversee operations within their field of vision or apply for FAA exemptions, which are then reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The newly proposed rule would more uniformly define commercial standards for operating beyond visual line of sight in lieu of the existing waiver process.

If implemented, the rule could expand drone and UAS operations among investor-owned electric companies, many of which are already using these technologies or exploring how they can help maintain critical energy infrastructure, assist with extreme weather preparation and response efforts, and improve safety.

Electric companies have historically relied on ground crews, bucket trucks, and crewed aircraft for inspections and storm damage assessments. The use of drones and UAS technologies can provide a safer, faster, and more cost-effective alternative, particularly when high-resolution cameras, Light Detection Ranging sensors, and thermal sensors are implemented.

Earlier this year, Southern Company received FAA approval for UAS flights beyond visual line of sight to monitor energy infrastructure, assess storm damage, and respond proactively to potential issues with the energy grid.

Florida Power & Light, similarly, began flying its FPLAir One drone in 2022. At the time, it was the first large-scale drone of its size to be operated commercially outside of an FAA test site. And, back in 2018, Xcel Energy first received FAA approval to utilize UAS technologies to survey transmission lines near Denver.

Learn more about investor-owned electric companies’ reliability, resilience, and emergency response work at eei.org.

EEI on Wednesday published its 2024 Financial Review, a wide-ranging report showcasing investor-owned electric companies’ strong financial footing.

EEI member companies invested a record $178.2 billion last year to make the energy grid smarter, stronger, more dynamic, and more secure, according to the report. This was the 13th-consecutive year of record capital investment for EEI member companies, with more than $30 billion allocated to adaptation, hardening, and resilience projects to strengthen the nation’s transmission and distribution infrastructure for all customers.

“Importantly, EEI member companies are projected to make similar investments of more than $1.1 trillion between 2025 and 2029, creating millions of jobs and supporting local economies across the country,” EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney said in a statement. “As always, we remain committed to keeping customer bills as low as possible as we work to deliver the reliable, secure electricity that is enabling innovation and enhancing the energy leadership of the United States.”

EEI member companies are continuing to invest to support growing electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence and data center expansion, industrialization and the reshoring of manufacturing activity, and the electrification of the broader economy. The sector is the most capital-intensive in the U.S. economy, and these investments support local jobs, empower communities, and drive economic development.

The report also showed that the industry’s average credit rating at the parent company level remained at BBB+ for the 11th-consecutive year, having increased from BBB in 2014, among other financial metrics.

The electric power industry accounts for at least 5 percent of U.S. GDP and supports more than 7 million jobs across the country. Its financial health is critical to unlocking the capital necessary to build new critical energy infrastructure of all kinds.

Visit eei.org to read through the report.

Since 1922, the Edison Award has recognized electric companies for their distinguished leadership, innovation, and contribution to the advancement of the electric industry for the benefit of all. The Edison Award is the most prestigious honor.

In March, an independent panel of reviewers met to evaluate nominations for the 2025 Edison Award and selected projects from The AES Corporation, Duke Energy, Edison International and Southern California Edison (SCE), and Southern Company as domestic finalists. Projects from ATCO Electric and Fortis Inc. were selected as international finalists.

“EEI’s member electric companies continue to drive innovation across their companies by investing in and deploying cutting-edge technologies and solutions that benefit the customers and communities they serve,” said EEI interim President and CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn. “This year’s Edison Award finalists have demonstrated exceptional leadership and ingenuity, and this recognition is well-deserved.”

The winners of the 97th Edison Award will be selected by a panel of former electric company chief executives and will be announced during EEI 2025, EEI’s annual conference and thought leadership forum, to be held June 2-4 in New Orleans.

Learn more about the Edison Award at eei.org/awards.

Domestic Finalists

The AES Corporation

• Maximo, the AI-Powered Robot

The AES Corporation unveiled Maximo, a first-of-its-kind robot powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and built to install solar panels quickly, precisely, and efficiently, in 2024. The robot works alongside construction crews to automate heavy lifting and precise placement tasks associated with installing solar panels, ultimately making the installation process safer and reducing costs.

Maximo is on track to install more than 100 megawatts of solar panels in 2025 and is slated to be deployed across 5 gigawatts (GW) of projects during the next three years, including the 2 GW Bellefield solar project in Kern County, Cali. That project, under contract with Amazon, is the largest solar-plus-storage project to be permitted in the United States to date.

Using advanced sensors and cameras, an industrial robotic arm, and generative AI to refine exact coordinates and dimensions for placement, Maximo can install solar panels in half the time and at half the cost of traditional crews while also opening the door for new career opportunities. Already, AES crew members have continued to work onsite alongside Maximo when they otherwise would have been sidelined from installation due to unpredictable weather conditions or staff shortages.

Duke Energy

• Setting a New Bar for Climate Resilience and Storm Response

In 2024, Duke Energy advanced its science-based planning to enhance grid resilience and reliability in the face of extreme weather. The company published the first comprehensive assessment of climate risks across generation, transmission, and distribution for a vertically integrated electric company: the Duke Energy Climate Resilience and Adaptation Study. 

Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton impacted customers in all six states served by Duke Energy, leaving catastrophic damage in their wake and demanding a historic coordinated response from across the electric power industry. Duke Energy mobilized more than 20,000 workers in response to Helene and nearly 19,000 following Milton, and Duke Energy Foundation provided more than $2.3 million in grants to 78 organizations for disaster relief and recovery.

Resilience and restoration efforts were aided by the $4 billion Duke Energy invested last year in hardening and modernizing the grid, which included undergrounding lines, upgrading poles to steel and concrete in coastal areas, and installing innovative self-healing grid technology. These investments helped to avoid nearly 550,000 customer outages and saved 7 million hours of total outage time during Debby, Helene, and Milton.

These real-world challenges tested and validated the importance of Duke Energy’s commitment to resilience and system adaptation, solidifying the need for the industry to continue collaborating to further prepare for extreme weather events. Duke Energy is investing $70 billion during the next decade to make the grid smarter, stronger, and more resilient. The resilience and adaptation study also identified future opportunities, like new infrastructure design standards, to accommodate higher temperatures and mitigate impacts from flooding.

Edison International and Southern California Edison (SCE)

• AWARE System

SCE’s Advanced Waveform Anomaly Recognition (AWARE) system supplements advanced sensors and other applications already used by many electric companies with state-of-the-art physics-based AI models and machine learning technologies. The resulting grid anomaly detection and proactive fault management technology can help to identify and locate problematic equipment on SCE’s circuits before a failure occurs, mitigating outages and helping to keep customers and communities safe and energized.

Many smart grid technologies use electric waveforms to detect faults, but the energy grid’s increasing complexity and the rise of customer-sited distributed energy resources can add noise that is difficult for traditional detection programs to sift through.

SCE’s AWARE system uses AI and machine learning to identify the unique waveforms for different kinds of equipment failures. It also can help to pinpoint where failures take place within SCE’s service territory, accelerating restoration times and supporting safer and more targeted restoration efforts.

Southern Company

• Plant Vogtle Unit 4

Plant Vogtle Unit 4 entered commercial operation in April 2024, following the completion of Vogtle Unit 3 the year prior. Each unit can power 500,000 Georgia homes and businesses and will serve communities across the state for decades to come. Collectively, the units have created 800 new good-paying, high-quality permanent jobs while helping to strengthen America’s nuclear energy supply chain and talent pipeline.

Sitting on 3,000 acres of land on the banks of the Savannah River, Plant Vogtle is the largest generator of carbon-free nuclear energy in the United States, capable of producing more than 30 million megawatt-hours of electricity annually.

The nuclear energy produced by Vogtle Units 3 and 4 will prevent an estimated 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, equivalent to planting 165 million trees every year, all while powering Georgia’s economy.

International Finalists

ATCO Electric

• Jasper National Park Wildfire Response

The 2024 wildfire in Jasper National Park was one of the most devastating in Canadian history, destroying nearly a third of the town of Jasper and forcing 25,000 residents to evacuate. Despite extensive damage to more than 800 electric and natural gas assets, ATCO Electric restored power to all properties able to receive it within 16 days of the fire’s outbreak—preventing economic losses while supporting community livelihoods.

The Jasper fire was first reported on July 22, 2024, and spread quickly and aggressively. ATCO Electric employees were among the last to evacuate and first to return as they worked to restore power to impacted communities. Through ATCO Electric’s extensive experience with wildfires in Alberta, the company effectively collaborated with Parks Canada and the Municipality of Jasper to rebuild infrastructure safely and as quickly as possible.

Grid hardening was critical to ATCO Electric’s response and restoration efforts. ATCO Electric undergrounded nearly 8 kilometers (5 miles) of distribution lines near a popular ski hill, replaced cables and converted lines associated with a local sky tram, and installed non-combustible composite poles to protect against future fire risk—highlighting the company’s commitment to supporting the area’s key economic driver and source of jobs.

Fortis Inc.

• Wataynikaneyap Power Transmission System

The approximately $1.9-billion Wataynikaneyap Power Transmission System is Canada’s largest Indigenous-led electricity project. Fortis partnered with Wataynikaneyap Power and 24 First Nations communities to construct the 1,800-kilometer (1,118-mile) transmission line connected to 22 substations. The system connects 17 rural and remote First Nations communities to the Ontario provincial energy grid.

Construction of the system began in 2020 and was completed in May 2024. With 16 of the 22 substations and half of the transmission line accessible only during winter months, construction timelines needed to be compressed, meaning, in some cases, a year’s worth of work needed to be completed in a matter of months.

The new transmission system is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 6.6 million tonnes during the next 40 years and will reduce First Nations communities’ reliance on diesel generation. Construction on new homes, offices, health facilities, fitness centers, and schools has already begun in areas that previously were unable to expand due to lack of access to reliable, affordable energy—underscoring the industry’s critical work to drive communities forward.

Executives from Eversource and their partners break ground on the Greater Cambridge Energy Program substation project in January. (Photo: Eversource)

In late January, Eversource broke ground on a $1.8-billion project in Cambridge, Mass., that, upon completion, will include the largest underground electrical substation in the United States.

The Greater Cambridge Energy Program substation will occupy 35,000 square feet and feature eight new 115-kilovolt transmission lines, which will span more than 8 miles and power portions of Cambridge, Boston, Somerville, and surrounding communities. The facility will be more than 100 feet underground at the site of a former parking garage and underneath what will be a new public green space.

“By taking a collaborative approach with the community and local leaders, this critical energy infrastructure meets several needs for our customers and the region’s energy supply while helping to enable the clean energy transition,” said Eversource Chairman, President, and CEO Joe Nolan.

By placing the facility underground, Eversource hopes to minimize its footprint within the city while enhancing grid resilience and insulating lines from above-ground threats such as extreme weather. Eversource has spent years designing the facility and conducting community engagement efforts with customers, local leaders, and other stakeholders, having started public outreach efforts in 2019. The company has since partnered with the city of Cambridge, the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, and real estate investment company BXP to bring the project to life.

“This region is experiencing a surge of new residential and commercial development, while at the same time moving away from fossil fuels. This generates a growing demand for a reliable electrical grid,” said Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang. “The Greater Cambridge Energy Program helps address the increased energy needs in the region, enhance the resiliency and reliability of the grid to reliably serve customers in our community, and support the decarbonization goals of both Cambridge and the Commonwealth.”

Eversource designed the substation to help meet the needs of customers now and in the future, particularly as the economy continues to electrify. For example, the company estimates that the substation will allow it to handle all of its East Cambridge residential customers who are converting their traditional heating systems to electric heat pumps while cutting the area’s reliance on natural gas in half.

“The Greater Cambridge Energy Program is a creative solution that helps shape a more sustainable and resilient energy future for our customers,” said Nolan.

The undergrounding of substations is not a new concept in the United States, with the first such project opening in Anaheim, Calif., in 2006. Upon its completion, the Cambridge substation will be more than twice the size of the underground substation in Anaheim.

Eversource anticipates that it will be able to operate at least some of the facility by 2029 and that it will be fully operational by 2031, creating and supporting an estimated 500 full-time jobs.