Grids, Storage, and Software Tighten Constraints; Nuclear Fuel and Reactors Move Into Execution; Datacenters Chase Dedicated Power
TKW Daily for January 29, 2026
Across today’s stories, execution replaces aspiration as nuclear moves from policy into fuel, services, and new-build readiness in Canada, the U.S., and the UK.
Datacenters respond by pulling generation closer, turning to behind-the-meter solar, fuel cells, gas, and repurposed batteries as grid timelines stretch. Regulators reinforce the shift, with fast-track interconnection rules favoring firm on-site capacity.
Meanwhile, utilities and vendors scale the physical and digital grid together: transmission towers, offshore interconnectors, grid-edge software, wildfire modeling, and multi-year planning tools all expand to manage steeper load growth. Hydrogen advances, but selectively, proving value in off-grid, industrial, and construction niches rather than broad mobility.
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Canada Prepares for New Nuclear Build
Westinghouse Electric Company and Tetra Tech Canada have signed an agreement to support deployment of AP1000 and AP300 reactor projects in Ontario, strengthening domestic engineering and supply-chain capacity. The collaboration reflects a shift from abstract nuclear ambition toward execution readiness, positioning nuclear as a long-duration power source for electrification and industrial growth. By anchoring new-build capability locally, the partnership signals that firm, large-scale generation is moving back onto the table as a core infrastructure strategy.
Altman-Backed Exowatt Targets Southwest Solar to Power Off-Grid Datacenters
Exowatt has launched ExoRise, a new business arm focused on supplying hyperscale datacenters with behind-the-meter and off-grid power built around solar and battery infrastructure. Concentrating on land-rich, high-irradiance regions such as New Mexico, west Texas, Arizona, and Nevada, the model pairs on-site generation with storage to bypass grid constraints. The approach reflects how power availability, rather than compute demand, is now the primary limiter on datacenter expansion.
DOE Moves to Rebuild the Nuclear Fuel Chain
The U.S. Department of Energy has launched an initiative to expand domestic nuclear fuel capabilities, asking states to propose sites for integrated Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses. The effort targets the full fuel cycle, from enrichment through recycling, addressing U.S. dependence on imports as nuclear demand rises. With hyperscalers driving renewed interest in nuclear for large-scale power, the DOE argues co-locating fuel processing, reactors, and major loads could reduce logistics friction and accelerate deployment. The department estimates a single campus could attract up to $50 billion in private capital as nuclear power reenters long-term infrastructure planning.
PJM Fast-Track Rules Push Datacenters Toward On-Site Gas
New PJM interconnection and service rules aimed at accelerating large-load connections are effectively steering datacenter developers toward bringing their own generation, because the expedited pathway requires over 250 MW of accredited capacity available at peak. In practice, that threshold favors gas plants and, in some cases, existing high-capacity-factor assets, while most solar, wind, and battery projects in the queue do not qualify under current accreditation. The result is a speed-driven reliability framework where on-site generation becomes the quickest route to power.
Hydrogen Mobility Faces a Power Reality Check
A new Comment in Nature argues that hydrogen’s role in transport is narrowing under cost, infrastructure, and power constraints. The authors conclude that broad, national hydrogen mobility strategies are misaligned with physical realities, including land, water, grid capacity, and renewable availability. Battery electrification dominates light-duty transport, while hydrogen retains value only in high-load, hard-to-electrify settings such as freight corridors, ports, and airports where concentrated demand and local power supply can align.
Standard Nuclear Expands Advanced Fuel Production
Standard Nuclear has raised $140 million to scale production of TRISO fuel made with high-assay low-enriched uranium, addressing a critical bottleneck for advanced reactor deployment. As interest in next-generation nuclear accelerates alongside rising power demand, fuel availability is becoming a constraint on par with reactor construction itself. The expansion of domestic TRISO manufacturing signals that the nuclear buildout is moving from policy and design into execution across the fuel supply chain.
Bloom Energy Secures Long-Term Datacenter Power Contracts
Bloom Energy has signed a 20-year offtake agreement worth $2.65 billion with an American Electric Power subsidiary to supply solid oxide fuel cells, alongside a new partnership with Brookfield focused on on-site power for AI datacenters. The deals position Bloom as a provider of contracted, long-duration power outside the traditional grid, targeting customers that prioritize reliability and speed of deployment. The structure and scale of the agreements highlight how on-site generation is becoming a preferred solution as datacenter power demand outpaces grid expansion.
SDSC Expanse Models Hydrogen Combustion for Power Systems
Researchers at the University of California San Diego used the San Diego Supercomputer Center’s Expanse system to simulate hydrogen combustion under conditions relevant to gas turbines used in power generation. The work focuses on how hydrogen flames stabilize under high pressure and temperature, a key challenge for adapting turbines originally designed for natural gas. By validating reduced-chemistry models that closely match more complex simulations, the study shows how large-scale computing can shorten design cycles for hydrogen-capable turbines and lower risk as hydrogen is evaluated as a future fuel for electricity and industrial power.
Ascend Power Predictions 2026 Signal Tighter Load Reality
Ascend Analytics released its Power Predictions 2026, framing a more constrained near-term outlook for U.S. power markets as data center demand collides with supply, infrastructure, and affordability limits. The analysis flags tighter load growth expectations, especially in ERCOT, rising electricity costs as a political issue, and a shift toward vertically integrated markets and behind-the-meter resources as large loads search for certainty amid grid and market friction.
Amentum Deepens UK Nuclear Operations Role
Amentum has secured up to $730 million in new contracts from EDF to support both the UK’s operating nuclear fleet and construction of Hinkley Point C. The work spans long-term operational support, life extension, project management, and preparation for decommissioning, reinforcing nuclear as an execution-heavy, services-driven industry. The award reflects how nuclear momentum is translating into sustained demand for engineering depth and operational continuity, not just new reactor announcements, as the UK stabilizes and extends its existing gigawatt-scale assets.
Datacenter Startups Rebuild Around Power Flexibility
An interview with ECL founder Yuval Bachar tracks how a startup that began with a hydrogen-only vision adapted to the AI boom by prioritizing power availability, high-density cooling, and rapid deployment. ECL describes running 150 kW-class racks with direct-to-chip liquid cooling and a highly automated control layer, then widening its approach from single-fuel hydrogen to a “flex grid” model that can blend multiple energy inputs, including grid power and natural gas. The core point is that datacenter design is now constrained by power and upgrade cadence, not real estate.
With Google Backing, Redwood Materials Shifts Toward Datacenter Storage
Redwood Materials has closed a $425 million funding round backed by hyperscale investors including Google, accelerating its move from battery recycling into grid-scale and datacenter energy storage. The company is repurposing used EV packs into fixed-capacity storage systems aimed at fast-deploying power for AI infrastructure. The shift reflects how storage is becoming a primary power asset for datacenters, while giving Redwood a near-term revenue path as EV battery recycling volumes take time to scale.
BIRD Energy Funds U.S.–Israel Applied Energy Projects
The Binational Industrial Research and Development Energy program has approved $4.4 million in cost-share funding for three joint U.S.–Israel energy projects, representing roughly $9.6 million in total investment. Backed by the U.S. Department of Energy and Israel’s energy and innovation agencies, the selected efforts focus on energy efficiency, recycling, and water–energy systems with defined commercialization paths. The awards reflect a continued emphasis on applied R&D that links laboratory innovation to deployable energy infrastructure, with private-sector cost sharing used to anchor projects in near-term market relevance.
AI Stabilizes Renewable Hydrogen Production
Envision Energy’s green hydrogen and ammonia project in Inner Mongolia has been cited by the World Economic Forum as a reference case for shared energy infrastructure. The project uses AI-based power scheduling to run hydrogen and ammonia synthesis entirely on variable wind and solar generation, avoiding reliance on carbon-intensive grids. The approach treats renewable electricity as a controllable industrial input, illustrating how software-coordinated power systems can support continuous, large-scale production of energy-intensive commodities.
Utilities Hit a Load and Constraint Inflection Point
Analysis from TRC argues that 2026 marks a structural turning point for the utility sector as AI-driven datacenter growth, electrification, and reshoring collide with grid constraints and aging infrastructure. Load curves are steepening rapidly, interconnection queues are backing up, and transmission is becoming the limiting factor rather than generation. The piece frames the response as integrated planning: aligning generation, transmission, distribution, gas systems, resilience, and workforce strategy under tighter affordability and regulatory pressure as utilities shift from incremental upgrades to systemwide rebuilds.
Fuel Supply Moves Upstream for Advanced Nuclear
Standard Nuclear has raised $140 million to expand production of TRISO fuel made with high-assay low-enriched uranium, addressing a key bottleneck for next-generation reactors. As interest in advanced nuclear grows alongside rising power demand, fuel availability is emerging as a gating constraint equal to reactor deployment. By scaling domestic TRISO manufacturing and reducing reliance on foreign HALEU supply, the funding highlights how the nuclear buildout is shifting from design and policy toward industrial execution across the fuel cycle.
Hydrogen Replaces Diesel at Worksite
ACCIONA has commissioned Chile’s first hydrogen fuel cell generator approved for off-grid use, deploying it at a reservoir expansion project for Codelco’s El Teniente mine. The pilot replaces diesel generation with hydrogen-based power for construction operations, cutting fuel use and emissions on site. The move highlights hydrogen’s near-term role in niche, mobile power applications where electrification is impractical and clean, self-contained energy supply is required.
Hydrogen Fills the Gap Where Grid Power Stops
Hitachi Energy has completed a four-week trial of its hydrogen fuel-cell generator at a UK high-voltage grid connection project, supplying power where grid capacity was constrained. Paired with battery storage, the system delivered over 5 MWh while avoiding diesel use and associated emissions. The trial underscores hydrogen’s practical role as a temporary, off-grid power source for construction and infrastructure projects as regulators push sites away from diesel before permanent grid access is available.
Baker Hughes Expands Cordant Industrial Software Platform
Baker Hughes has released Cordant 26.1, expanding its industrial software platform to improve asset reliability, operational visibility, and energy and emissions management. The update integrates asset strategy, health monitoring, and risk analytics into a single workflow, with added AI-assisted analysis and scenario-based process optimization. New links between operational data and lifecycle emissions accounting reflect how energy and industrial operators are using software platforms to manage reliability, efficiency, and sustainability together as system complexity increases.
Firescape Brings FireMap Into Utility Operations
Firescape has commercialized FireMap, a wildfire risk platform developed at Sandia National Laboratories, to help utilities identify and mitigate grid exposure to fires. The software combines satellite imagery, weather data, and machine learning to model fuel conditions and overlay risk against grid assets. Rather than static risk maps, FireMap is designed as an operational decision tool, guiding actions such as protection setting changes, vegetation management, and targeted hardening as wildfire risk becomes a core grid reliability constraint.
ADS-TEC Energy Rebuilds Its Operating Core for Scale
ADS-TEC Energy has gone live on SAP’s public cloud as it prepares for international expansion, consolidating finance, operations, sales, and service onto a single real-time platform. The move is less about IT modernization than execution at scale: standardized processes, tighter internal controls, and faster data access are now foundational as energy hardware companies grow more global and project-driven. As power infrastructure firms industrialize, software backbones are becoming as critical as physical systems for reliability and growth.
Prime Data Centers Earns Energy Star for Efficient Cooling
Prime Data Centers has earned EPA Energy Star certification for facilities in Dallas and Sacramento by using closed-loop air and liquid cooling to cut energy and water use. The designs reduce reliance on evaporation-based cooling while maintaining uptime for high-density compute. As datacenters face scrutiny over grid impacts and customer energy costs, the certifications underscore how cooling architecture and operational controls are becoming primary levers for lowering power intensity at the facility level.
envelio Adds Strategic Grid Planner for Multi-Year Utility Planning
envelio has expanded its Intelligent Grid Platform with Strategic Grid Planner, a software module designed to automate and validate multi-year distribution system planning. The tool allows utilities to evaluate thousands of technically feasible and cost-optimized grid development options across future planning horizons, using load-flow modeling and algorithmic analysis. As distributed generation, EV charging, storage, and new loads strain traditional planning methods, the release reflects a shift toward software-driven, scenario-based planning to support defensible investment decisions under rising grid complexity.
ESS Wins $9.9M AFRL Contract for Arctic-Grade Long-Duration Storage
ESS Tech secured a $9.9 million contract from Concurrent Technologies Corporation and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to deploy up to 27 MWh of iron flow battery storage at Clear Space Force Station in Alaska. The project targets extreme-environment resilience, integrating long-duration storage with microgrids and advanced controls to support mission-critical operations below –40°C, highlighting growing defense demand for domestically built, islandable energy systems as grid reliability becomes a strategic constraint.
Technical Toolboxes Acquires HUVR to Expand Asset Integrity Data Management
Technical Toolboxes has acquired HUVR to integrate inspection data capture with engineering assessment and compliance workflows. The combination links field inspection records with critical asset analysis and centralized data storage, addressing growing demands for audit-ready compliance and operational consistency across energy infrastructure. The move reflects how software platforms are consolidating around asset integrity as operators seek better data continuity across inspection, risk evaluation, and decision-making processes.
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