Analysis on the trends reshaping U.S. power markets, grid reliability, and dedicated power infrastructure.
The decisions a sophisticated power buyer is making right now (should we sit in the interconnection queue, build behind the meter, or contract a third-party developer?) depend on a clear read of the forces moving the grid: queue length, transformer supply, AI demand growth, workforce constraints, federal policy on data-center cost allocation, and the financial architecture of the IRA. The posts below are how Smartland tracks and explains those forces. We write them because our buyers' internal review committees need them, and because our own development decisions are shaped by them.
FERC has directed PJM to rewrite the rules for co-locating generation with data centers and for behind-the-meter generation. What it means for getting power on time.
June 18, 2026 · Smartland Energy Research
Read more →Federal policy is shifting toward BYOP - buyers funding new generation that matches their incremental load rather than congesting the grid.
April 2026
Read more →Utility queues now average 53 months nationally; PJM and CAISO exceed 58. Behind-the-meter is the speed-to-power option for buyers who can't wait.
March 2026
Read more →Schmidt's number lands the same place every honest demand-stack lands: AI is a structural demand event the grid is not built for.
March 2026
Read more →Lead times of 80–120+ weeks for large power transformers are reshaping how - and where - buyers can get firm megawatts.
February 2026
Read more →Skilled-trade and engineering shortages are now a project-schedule constraint as material as steel, copper, or transformers.
February 2026
Read more →AI infrastructure is forcing buyers and developers to plan power on multi-generational timelines.
January 2026
Read more →Generative AI workloads are concentrated, ramp-heavy, and 24/7 - exactly the load profile dedicated BTM generation is designed for.
January 2026
Read more →Modern enclosed RICE plants run materially quieter than equivalent open-frame turbine plants - a real factor in community acceptance and permitting.
December 2025
Read more →A 214 MW RICE plant case study illustrating how modular gas generation can be sited near communities without the noise penalty of legacy infrastructure.
December 2025
Read more →Aging T&D, climate stress, and rising demand make grid hardening a near-term operational requirement, not a long-term policy goal.
November 2025
Read more →Hydrogen project economics are stretching as offtake commitments lag and equipment costs rise.
November 2025
Read more →Baltimore's recent grid stress is part of a national pattern: T&D-side fragility is becoming a buyer-side reliability issue.
October 2025
Read more →PJM is the most pressured ISO in the country. The forward curve and queue length both signal a structural BTM opportunity.
October 2025
Read more →Texas legislation gives ERCOT explicit authority to curtail large flexible loads in scarcity events - a signal of where the policy wind is blowing.
September 2025
Read more →Compute is scaling faster than power. The next constraint on AI is megawatts on a defined timeline.
September 2025
Read more →Microgrid deployments are accelerating across mission, industrial, and campus sites where utility reliability cannot be assumed.
September 2025
Read more →Goldman Sachs concludes that AI-driven demand has reset Mid-Atlantic forward curves to elevated levels - likely structural.
August 2025
Read more →A large industrial groundbreaking in Virginia underscores the pattern: industrial buyers are anchoring the next wave of dedicated power demand.
August 2025
Read more →The U.S. grid is at an inflection point - load growth, equipment supply, and aging infrastructure are converging on a tighter timeline.
July 2025
Read more →AI workloads are reshaping every part of the U.S. power picture - from siting to fuel supply to interconnection priority.
July 2025
Read more →Three forces - demand growth, data-center expansion, and decarbonization - are reshaping how utilities build and how buyers procure power.
June 2025
Read more →Demand growth across data centers, AI, manufacturing, and electrification is putting reliability under unusual operational pressure.
June 2025
Read more →TEP's flexible-engine deployment validates the modular RICE thesis: dispatchable, fast-start gas as the backbone for grids absorbing AI and renewables.
May 2025
Read more →