Capital · United States

Duke Energy to stay course on data center-fueled growth plan after ‘historic’ election

Credited to Utility Dive · utilitydive.com · 4h ago

The company’s large-load pipeline of 15.4 GW has remained virtually unchanged since the first quarter of 2026 as it pursues a $103 billion spending plan heavily focused on new natural gas generation.

Despite a “historic” election night in which large swaths of the public voted for candidates promising to rein in data centers, Duke Energy's vision for the growth of the company remains unchanged, CEO Harry Sideris said during a third quarter earnings call Thursday.

The company’s large-load pipeline of 15.4 GW has remained virtually unchanged since the first quarter of 2026 as it pursues a $103 billion spending plan, heavily focused on natural gas, to meet demand.

“We have a track record of... working with both sides of the aisle,” Sideris said. “We don't see any changes in that focus or any changes in our ability to work with those that were recently elected.”

He said his company shares elected officials’ goals of ensuring reliable, affordable service and “making investments that help grow the state” and create jobs.

“They share our goal, too, of protecting our customers and making sure these large loads pay for their fair share,” he added.

The company said its 15.4 GW large-load pipeline includes 7.8 GW of signed electric service agreements — up 200 MW from the first quarter of the year.

In response to an analyst question about what it would take to get the remaining 7.6 GW over the finish line, Sideris said the company was operating in a “dynamic environment.”

“They're going very well, but it's taking longer because of the complexities,” he said.

By 2031, Duke plans to construct 4.8 GW of battery storage and more than 10 GW of new natural gas generation, about 5 GW of which is already under construction in North Carolina and Indiana. The company has secured about one-third of the $10 billion in equity it plans to issue to support the plan, CFO Brian Savoy said.

Turbines and gas supply for the new projects are already under contract, and the company is exploring pairing a 2.8 GW gas generation project in North Carolina with a liquefied natural gas storage facility that Sideris said would “provide greater supply flexibility and diversity while reducing exposure to price volatility.”

“Our resource plan makes clear the important role natural gas will play in the near term to ensure reliability,” he said.

16 GW New generation and storage planned by 2031, including more than 10 GW of natural gas.

15.4 GW “High-confidence” large-load pipeline — unchanged since Q1 2026.

The gas-focused expansion plan has already met some resistance in North Carolina, where regulators denied an application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to build a 255 MW gas generating unit citing its “ staggering ” cost and uncertain need.

“We still feel very confident that that's a good project,” Sideris said. “It's a small project, but it is a low-cost solution to help the generation need that we have in the state to serve our customers reliably and affordably.”

Savoy said the company is currently spending about $1.5 billion per month on planned projects, and plans to step up the pace of spending to $2 billion per month beginning next year.

“The capital plan is moving up in a sizable way,” Savoy said.

Third quarter electric utility earnings grew $159 million year-over-year thanks to warm weather, a 2% increase in retail electric sales and a number of newly finalized rate cases and riders. Settlements under consideration in North Carolina would raise rates at Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress, respectively, by $496 million and $338 million over two years, while hearings are set for January for a $90 million requested increase in Ohio and an initial multi-year rate plan will be filed in Indiana later this year. The company plans to keep rates in Florida flat in 2027.

The company also continues to advance a slate of large-load tariff proposals, including in North Carolina, Florida, Indiana and Ohio. A settlement in North Carolina could result in the approval of a large-load tariff in that state by the middle of this month, according to company documents.

NTT and Bloom agree 900 MW of onsite primary power for data centers

Credited to Rackline · Michael Anderson · nttdata.com3h ago

Useful

NTT DATA and Bloom Energy have agreed to deploy 900 megawatts of Bloom fuel cells as primary power for several NTT Global Data Centers projects around the world, the companies said on Nov. 5. The companies said shipments will start in 2027.

The companies said the aim is to bring data-center capacity online faster in markets where demand from AI is running ahead of what the grid can supply.

Bloom said the agreement is its largest international project to date. The two companies said they designed the relationship to grow across NTT's Global Data Centers portfolio toward gigawatt scale. Neither said when, or on what terms, any capacity beyond the 900 megawatts would be agreed.

The systems are modular, and the companies said they can be installed quickly and added in phases as data halls are built and as AI workloads become more power-dense.

Much of the deal is still undisclosed. The releases did not say which campuses or countries will get the first units, how the 900 megawatts will be split across sites, when individual projects will start running, what the agreement is worth, who will supply the fuel, or which customers the capacity will serve.

Bloom, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, had not filed a Form 8-K describing the agreement as of a Nov. 6 check of SEC records. Its most recent 8-K is dated Oct. 22.

The agreement takes Bloom's onsite model for large AI loads overseas. In the United States, Bloom fuel cells are planned for a 702-megawatt plant that American Electric Power is developing to supply Google's first Wyoming data center; AEP has said it expects that plant to be fully running by the end of 2028.

Source · nttdata.com

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Capital · United States

Tutor Perini sees $200B in potential bids. Almost none of them are data centers.

Credited to Construction Dive · constructiondive.com · 2h ago

The day after voters made their distaste for data centers clear, the heavy civil contractor said it saw renewed momentum for increased infrastructure funding.

If data center construction is increasingly the only game in town, you wouldn’t know it looking at Tutor Perini’s latest earnings results.

The Los Angeles-based heavy civil contractor turned in record revenue and near-record backlog in the third quarter, most of which came from core infrastructure and building jobs. It said it sees an additional $200 billion in bidding opportunities in core construction activity over the next three to four years.

In its Wednesday earnings report, the firm said demand for its traditional civil construction services remained robust, “driven by well-funded state, local and federal customers that have numerous large-scale, high-priority infrastructure projects planned over the next several years.”

It also said it was seeing interest from commercial customers for new or renovated buildings in healthcare, education, and hospitality and gaming.

Notably absent from that outlook was any mention of data center construction, the red hot sector that got trundled during Tuesday’s midterms with dozens of local voter initiatives passing nationally to reign in development.

In contrast to its messaging on past earnings calls, Tutor Perini made the point that very little of its current, multibillion-dollar backlog was related to data center work.

“If you look at the backlog that we have that's data center-related and that is not, it's 0.2% of our backlog as of the end of September,” Gary Smalley, Tutor Perini’s president and CEO, said during the earnings call. “So very negligible.”

Smalley said that while a few select additional jobs in the sector may materialize, he’s happy to leave the bulk of future data center work on the table for now.

“Data centers is not going to be a focus for us,” Smalley said. “Can we do the work? Sure we can do the work. But, you know, why should we with all the opportunities we have in front of us in the more traditional work?”

Underscoring its diversity away from the data center sector, Tutor Perini highlighted $2.2 billion in core infrastructure projects and construction wins that it added to its backlog in the third quarter, including:

Smalley also reminded investors on the call about the nine infrastructure megaprojects the firm is currently working on that total $16 billion in awarded value.

While management didn’t detail those jobs, some large projects include its role on the $16 billion Hudson Tunnel project and the $3.8 billion Manhattan jail build, both in New York, as well as California’s high-speed rail project, where the firm and its subsidiaries have lined up nearly $4.3 billion in contracts.

Funding outlook

In addition, Smalley highlighted the changing political winds around infrastructure funding with Democrats seizing control of both chambers of Congress.

The current extension of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding expires Dec. 11. Congress will need to pursue another short-term extension or pass the BUILD America 250 Act by that deadline. Observers told Construction Dive a larger bill now likely won’t pass until the new Congress is sworn in next year.

Smalley said the results of the election, however, have introduced a renewed focus around that funding.

“What we've heard is that there appears to be some momentum and maybe that momentum will increase based on the results of the midterms for a new transportation bill and additional funding,” Smalley said.

By the numbers

Tutor Perini posted revenue of $1.72 billion during the third quarter, the most of any quarter in company history and a 21.5% increase from a year ago. Its backlog came in at $20.4 billion, down 6% from record backlog of $21.6 billion in Q3 2025, but up sequentially from $19.9 billion in Q2 2026.

The firm’s profits were also up. Net income was $20.7 million, more than five times higher than $3.6 million a year earlier. The company attributed the rise to better margins in its business segments, higher interest income on larger cash balances, a lower overall tax rate and higher-quality backlog.

It all combined to the company spotlighting a bright outlook for 2027 and beyond, even if there’s no funding increase moving forward.

“We are in great shape if there is no more federal funding, but expecting that there will be some more,” Smalley said. “There's just too many opportunities and we're so well positioned on too many of them for us not to continue to grow.”