As part of our 2026 year-end survey process, we asked utility staff to evaluate the impact of a number of recent developments on their grid operations. The survey question was worded as follows:
“In your opinion, are your utility infrastructure requirements being impacted (or likely to be impacted) by any of the following large power consumption types of entities over the next three years?”
The results to date have been interesting and maybe a bit unexpected. Six of 10 utility respondents during our first week reported currently being impacted by large power demands of data centers, three others expect to be impacted within the next 36 months and one indicated possible impacts on operations within three years. Not really that surprising, in light of the fact that four of the ten respondents are large IOUs, along with two major G&T Cooperatives and four mid-large munis and cooperatives.
Perhaps more surprising is the growing concern/interest expressed over the impact of grid-scale BESS projects, with seven of ten respondents indicating a current impact or near-term likely impact on utility infrastructure requirements. Impacts on operations from industrial electrification/advanced manufacturing facilities, hydrogen production facilities and semiconductor plants were not seen as particularly significant over the next three years among this group of respondents. However, there were four respondents who replied that EV charging infrastructure is likely to impact operations within three years, along with two who replied that large-scale renewable projects would likely impact them within three years and five indicating that there may possibly be an impact from renewables projects.
Look for more interesting findings in the coming weeks as we continue with our year-end work with utilities, electrical equipment manufacturers and OT systems integration providers. If you can participate in our annual year-end study as a utility participant or as a manufacturer/integrator participant, please drop me a line to request the survey links. Email me at cnewton@newton-evns.com. Just remember, AI doesn’t have all the answers needed to inform the community about energy industry developments, issues and trends.
summary reviews and highlights from completed studies
