The drivers? You guessed it—AI and data centers. For 2027, the EIA forecasts a whopping 4,397B kWh in demand (up from a record 4,195B kWh in 2025). Renewables are set to meet an increasing chunk of that skyrocketing demand (reaching 27% of generation in 2027), while coal use could continue to drop. 

Plus, a spending surge: Equipment price inflation has propelled global grid capex to more than double since 2020, per a Rystad Energy white paper. This year, it's projected to exceed $650B. Prices and delays will likely remain high for the time being, with two- to three-year lead times for transformers and high-voltage circuit breakers. 

How it works: FERC has approved PJM’s temporary “Expedited Interconnection Track” for large capacity projects. Beginning July 31, PJM will consider up to 10 of these speedy requests per year for new or uprated capacity resources >250 MW. But they’ve got to be 1) “shovel-ready” i.e. prepared to launch within three years and 2) approved by a state’s “primary siting authority.” 

The pushback: The proposal prompted backlash among everyone from clean energy trade groups to state officials to Vistra. The concerns? The process could favor utilities, exclude lower-capacity renewables, and delay PJM’s standard interconnection review.

What’s next: PJM may announce the first 10 selected projects in October, and the grid operator said it could take around 10 months to move from submission to an interconnection agreement. The process will expire in late 2027.

Meanwhile, Charles River Associates has issued an RFP on PJM’s behalf for its emergency backstop auction (responses are due July 21). The consulting firm is kicking off a matchmaking effort to link up supply and load participants—which hopefully won’t cause too much heartbreak.

A month after Ford announced its foray into BESS, GM is following suit. The car maker is partnering with Peak Energy to build and deploy grid-scale sodium-ion batteries (a chemistry that has received plenty of buzz in recent months).

But wait, there’s more: GM also said it’s “integrating bidirectional capability as a foundational standard” across its portfolio. The company is currently testing the concept with utilities, including DTE and PG&E. By 2030, GM expects that over 52K of its EVs in Northern California will be “systematically participating in grid-balancing protocols.”

The numbers: Around two-thirds of 809 planned data centers are headed for some of the country’s driest areas…where they would require loads of water to operate. That’s roughly equivalent to the ratio of data centers already operating in drought-stricken areas. 

These include parts of Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott has outlined a plan to rein in the hyperscalers flocking to his state. His recommendations for Texas officials: 1) require developers to add generation and pay for electric infrastructure 2) repeal sales tax exemptions and 3) mandate annual electricity and water use reporting.

And another moratorium: Seattle just passed a one-year freeze on new data centers >20MW in order to gauge local impacts. If the bill gets the mayor’s signature, Seattle will join over 70 cities and counties with some form of data center ban.

Sunny-side up: In May, solar contributed 13% of the country’s electricity—for the first time ever. Meanwhile, coal sat around 12% (its fourth-lowest monthly contribution on record).

Oil drops: And as the Iran war drags on, the EIA estimates that the world’s oil consumption could fall by over 1M barrels per day from 2025.

The agency’s new Fusion Science and Technology Roadmap sets a lofty goal: reaching US commercial production by the mid-2030s (with the help of AI, advanced computing, and public-private collaboration). Already, there are plenty of dollars backing this dream: US fusion companies have received over $10B in private equity investments.