Electricity has moved from the back office to the boardroom. Surging demand from AI and data centers is only part of the story; mass air conditioning, EVs, heavy industry, and building electrification are accelerating a broader shift. At the same time, aging grids and interconnection backlogs are driving price increases and volatility—and, for some companies, real questions about reliability. CFOs are asking about power costs, COOs are asking about continuity, and climate and energy leads are being pulled to the front line.
We convened a panel of energy experts for our 2026 Lookahead Summit to break down these trends and what it means for companies. The panel was moderated by Watershed’s Head of Decarbonization Matt Konieczny, and included:
- Maria Gallucci, Senior Reporter at Canary Media
- Sarah Mihalecz, Senior Director of Energy Transactions at the Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA)
- Daan Walter, Principal at Ember
Here are their top takeaways, and what sustainability and procurement leads need to know for 2026:
AI demand is reshaping the energy landscape
“AI is consuming loads of electricity. We have a huge increase in demand, but we aren't building enough supply to meet the moment.”
Matt Konieczny, Watershed
The exponential development of generative AI and scale-up of the technology and infrastructure needed to support it are transforming the global economy. In the US, next-gen data centers already require gigawatts of capacity—as much as cities of millions. This demand is forecast to more than double by 2030. This increased demand cannot be absorbed by existing infrastructure; it requires a massive build-out of new energy production, including solar, wind, gas, geothermal, and nuclear.
Data center build-outs are often discussed as a technology story, but their effects are being felt well beyond the tech sector. Electricity demand from AI and data centers is widely expected to rise 60–150% by 2030, and that growth is concentrating in specific regions, tightening local grids and reshaping utility planning. For large electricity buyers in manufacturing, consumer goods, and industrial sectors, this shows up indirectly: higher competition for clean power, longer interconnection timelines, and greater price volatility in already-constrained markets. In other words, even companies without data centers are increasingly operating in power systems shaped by them.
What this means in practice is a narrower margin for error in energy planning. Globally, data centers are expected to account for roughly 300 TWh per year of additional corporate clean energy procurement by 2030, based on IEA data center demand scenarios and current corporate procurement patterns tracked by CEBA and BloombergNEF. For companies outside the tech sector, that tends to show up as fewer easy procurement options, longer lead times, and more sensitivity to where and how power is sourced.
Many energy and sustainability teams are responding by moving earlier—locking in longer-dated contracts, paying closer attention to deliverability and grid location, and spending more time with utilities on future capacity. None of this is about chasing AI trends; it’s about operating in a power system where demand growth is being set by someone else.
It’s not just AI: reshoring industry means more electric demand
"There is a huge undercurrent of demand growing from industry."
Maria Gallucci, Canary Media
AI grabs headlines, but heavy industry is quietly driving demand too. Since 2023, around 900 new manufacturing plants have been announced in the US, including semiconductor fabs, battery plants, and heavy industry expansions that each require enormous, always-on power.
Heavy industry’s clean power needs are acute. “Each new aluminum plant requires enough electricity to power the entire state of Rhode Island for a year,” Maria said, adding that producers “are going to need that power at really cheap rates—and ideally it will come from clean, renewable sources.”
Customer pressure (especially from EV makers) and policies like Europe’s carbon border tariff are accelerating the shift to cleaner manufacturing. To help balance grids, Maria highlighted demand response deals where smelters reduce production during peak stress to trade flexibility for reliability (and cost savings).
The blocker to more clean power isn’t technological—it’s institutional
We know how to build clean power. What’s lagging is the system around it.
“When we look at AI, we see this insurmountable amount of electricity that we need to grow. This is only insurmountable in the context of the past 15 years, because we used to build electricity infrastructure at a much larger scale.”
Daan Walter, Ember
Daan pointed out that Western economies used to build power infrastructure at a much larger scale: US and European demand growth flatlined after 2008 even as other regions continued building. The core constraint now, he argued, is “legacy thinking.”
Markets, planning, and utility structures were built for centralized fossil generation, not for a more distributed, flexible, clean system. If we can unlock institutional adoption, “technology-wise, we can fix this,” Daan said, including with grid-enhancing tools like dynamic line rating, which in some corridors can unlock significant additional capacity on existing transmission without building new lines.
What leading buyers are doing
“Don't despair. There is a lot of news that's challenging, and there are a lot of constraints against action. But there is so much innovation happening right now in electricity decarbonization. There are so many different providers. Come up with creative solutions, find partners that can help you meet your needs.”
Sarah Mihalecz, CEBA
Sarah reinforced that the chokepoint to more clean energy is transmission and a years-long backlog in interconnection queues, not generation potential. In response, she said, leading buyers are:
- Leveraging advance market commitments and early investments to pave the way for clean, firm energy technologies, from advanced geothermal and next‑gen nuclear to carbon capture and storage
- Engaging with utilities and local communities, using community benefits and distributed projects like community solar to speed siting and permitting
- Working directly with utilities on new tariff structures and pathways to bring their own clean energy onto the system
There is global leadership on corporate electricity decarbonization and from a diverse set of sectors and companies. “In APAC there have been triple the number of corporate PPAs over the past 3 years,” Sarah said. Her advice to mid‑sized companies: “Find your niche, and find your lane.” De-risked VPPAs, industry coalitions (like the one recently announced by REI and Carhartt), and pairing solar with storage expand access and reduce risk.
2026 clean power strategies for companies
The panelists offered recommendations to sustainability leads for the year ahead:
- “Energy’s a hardware business,” Daan said. Even excellent innovations take time to scale. Over the next 2-3 years, focus purchasing on the technologies already in the steep part of the S‑curve: “solar, wind, batteries, grid‑enhancing technologies, electric vehicles, heat pumps.” Treat nuclear, fusion, and deep geothermal as important but only much longer‑term options.
- Sarah’s guidance: “Find a great partner. This is a good place for you not to become a technology expert. Keep your eyes open, and go back to your why.” She also urged leaders to weigh in on evolving rules that could shape strategy and reporting, including the Science Based Targets Initiative new draft net zero corporate standard, and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s proposed scope 2 revisions, due January 31, 2026.
- One more frontier to watch from Maria: industrial heat. “Decarbonizing heat could mean increasing electricity demand for companies and manufacturers,” she said, which loops straight back to reliability and cost.
The age of electricity is here. Companies that move now to secure clean power and build flexibility will gain resilience and cost advantage while driving real decarbonization.
