Building the plane while it’s flying: data centers, utilities, and the new rules of power

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Feb 10, 2026

Chris Seiple, Vice Chairman of Power & Renewables at Wood Mackenzie, explains how a 175 GW pipeline of data centers and reshoring is overwhelming traditional utility planning. Rapid-build tech loads clash with long grid timelines. New large-load tariffs, market rule changes, and grid-enhancing innovations are reshaping where investment, risk, and coordination land.

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INSIGHT

Surprise Demand Revealed Planning Gaps

U.S. power saw ~0% annual demand growth for 15 years, so utilities lacked planning culture for sudden load increases.
That unpreparedness explains why rapid data center growth feels like building an airplane while it's flying.

ANECDOTE

WWII Parallel Sparks Innovation

Chris compares the current surge to World War II-scale industrial demand and says that era produced rapid innovation.
He argues the AI and reshoring wave could similarly catalyze new technologies and system changes.

INSIGHT

Scale Makes Modern Loads Unique

New large loads like data centers and chip fabs can be enormous, sometimes ~1,000 MW, dwarfing past industrial sites.
Scale, not just type, makes current projects uniquely challenging for grids and regulators.

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After more than a decade of flat demand, the US power sector is now facing explosive growth, arriving faster than grids, generation, and transmission can be built. In this episode, Interim host of Interchange Recharged Bridget van Dorsten is joined by Chris Seiple, Vice Chairman of Power & Renewables at Wood Mackenzie, to unpack one of the defining challenges facing the modern energy system: how utilities, developers, and policymakers are responding to an unprecedented surge in electricity demand driven by data centres, AI, and reshoring manufacturing.

Bridget and Chris explore what makes this moment different, why planning cycles are colliding with short technology investment horizons, and how this mismatch is forcing a fundamental rethink of how the power business works, from energy policy to energy finance. The main point is that the difference between regulated and deregulated markets is widening, as vertically integrated utilities strengthen their advantage in managing large loads.

New mechanisms like large-load tariffs are reshaping rate design, investment risk, and affordability - Chris explains how. Plus, deregulated markets may be approaching a tipping point, as traditional price signals struggle to accommodate demand arriving at this scale and speed. What does it all mean for energy?

Crucially, the episode looks beyond the immediate crunch to the longer-term implications for the energy transition. From renewable energy and solar energy pipelines to grid resilience, transmission innovation, and behind-the-meter solutions, this demand boom could become a powerful catalyst for clean tech, clean technology, and energy innovation, even as subsidy regimes change and capital costs rise.

The discussion also touches on the role of hydrogen, nuclear, and emerging grid technologies in supporting future energy projects, and why this period of rapid load growth may ultimately accelerate decarbonisation rather than slow it. If you’re tracking climate policy, climate change, green finance, and long-term energy predictions, this episode is for you; hear why today’s data centre boom could shape the next several decades of the power system.

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