Knowledge Relay

05/25/2026

Freedom is never free. On this Memorial Day, we honor the fallen heroes whose courage and sacrifice made ours possible. Thank you. 🇺🇸

05/21/2026

Duke Energy Corporation has broken ground on a major modernization and expansion of its Cayuga power plant in Vermillion County, Indiana, adding 470 MW of capacity for a total of 1,476 MW—enough to power about 1.1 million homes in its Indiana service area.

For utilities, this kind of project isn’t just about new equipment—it’s about tightly coordinated outage planning, integrated project controls, and high‑fidelity data to keep milestones, budgets, and system impacts on track while the existing grid remains reliable.

We see these large fleet and plant upgrades as exactly where robust data management and AI‑driven forecasting can support better decision‑making—from sequencing outages and construction windows to optimizing resource allocation and monitoring schedule risk in real time.

The Cayuga project is another signal that utilities will continue to lean on advanced planning, analytics, and integrated project controls as they modernize their fleets.

Duke Energy broke ground on its new project that will modernize and expand power generation at the existing Cayuga power plant in Vermillion County. Once complete, the project will increase generating capacity at Cayuga by 470 megawatts to a total of 1,476 megawatts – that’s enough to power 1.1 ...

05/19/2026

Huge news over the weekend!

Major consolidation news in the U.S. utility sector: NextEra Energy, Inc. and Dominion Energy have announced a definitive all‑stock agreement to combine, creating what they describe as the world’s largest regulated electric utility business and a premier North American energy infrastructure platform.

The combined company would be more than 80% regulated, serving roughly 10 million customer accounts across Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, with about 110 GW of generation across a diverse portfolio. The plan includes dual headquarters in Juno Beach, FL, and Richmond, VA, and retains Dominion’s South Carolina operational HQ in Cayce.

For large, multi-jurisdictional utilities, this kind of combination amplifies the urgency around integrated project controls, outage coordination, and unified data management. Effective use of AI/ML on project and asset data becomes a key lever for realizing the promised efficiencies and customer benefits.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260517952728/en/NextEra-Energy-and-Dominion-Energy-to-Combine-Creating-the-Worlds-Largest-Regulated-Electric-Utility-Business-and-North-Americas-Premier-Energy-Infrastructure-Platform-Benefiting-Customers

05/15/2026

Exciting times for clean, reliable power in Canada!

Ontario is taking bold steps in its nuclear expansion with a $300M pre-development agreement for the Bruce C project at Bruce Power, directed through the IESO. This marks Canada's first major nuclear build in over 30 years, aiming to create the world's largest nuclear facility with up to 4,800 MW of new capacity—enough to power 4.8 million homes.

This announcement builds on a wave of nuclear momentum in the province: Ontario Power Generation's Darlington refurbishment is on time and budget, with Unit 1 back online early and the final unit set for 2026, securing 3,500 MW through 2055. OPG also has approval for four BWRX-300 SMRs at Darlington, targeting the first G7 grid-scale SMR by 2030. Early planning for up to 10,000 MW at Wesleyville further underscores Ontario's commitment.

At Knowledge Relay, we support nuclear operators with advanced project controls, outage planning, and data management solutions. Precise planning and real-time insights are crucial as these multi-billion-dollar projects advance amid rising energy demands.

Ontario directs IESO and Bruce Power to launch $300M pre-development deal for Bruce C, Canada's first major nuclear build in 30+ years.

05/14/2026

The next competitive advantage is already here. Learn how AI and Unified Data are redefining power plant performance today!

https://knowledgerelay.com/blog/the-next-competitive-advantage-is-already-here-how-ai-and-unified-data-are-redefining-power-plant-performance/

05/13/2026

Permitting delays are a growing challenge for utilities striving to maintain reliability and affordability in a time of rising energy demand. Nebraska Public Power District's President and CEO Tom Kent recently highlighted how these bottlenecks create real-world consequences, slowing critical infrastructure upgrades and threatening grid stability.

This issue resonates across the sector, where timely project ex*****on is essential for meeting customer needs.

At Knowledge Relay, our project controls and outage planning solutions help utilities navigate complex timelines, optimize resource allocation, and mitigate delays through data-driven insights. By integrating AI/ML for predictive analytics, we enable teams to anticipate permitting hurdles and streamline compliance processes.

Tom Kent's comments underscore the need for innovative tools to accelerate development while ensuring safety and efficiency. As energy companies face increasing pressure from data centers, electrification, and renewables integration, robust planning platforms can make the difference.

In 2012, an Integrated Transmission Plan from Southwest Power Pool ...

05/07/2026

We talk a lot about the “nuclear renaissance.”

But spend a week on the ground with utilities, OEMs, regulators, and vendors, and a different picture emerges: the limiting factor is no longer whether nuclear is accepted, it’s whether our industry can execute at the scale the world is now expecting from us.

Think about the collision of trends we’re all living inside:

AI and data centers are cutting multi‑gigawatt deals with nuclear because they’ve concluded nothing else can give them 24/7 clean power at scale.

Governments are pushing new builds and life extensions faster than the workforce and supply chain are growing.

Meanwhile, we’re facing an aging workforce, talent shortages, and a digital transformation that is still uneven plant to plant and program to program.
If we’re honest, the biggest risk to “new nuclear” isn’t the technology. It’s whether we, collectively, can staff, train, digitalize, and govern it fast enough to stay credible.

A few uncomfortable questions I’m wrestling with as someone whose business exists to support this industry:

Workforce: Are we treating workforce ex*****on risk as a core delivery and financing risk, or as an HR problem we’ll sort out later? Because the data says the constraint is structural now, not cyclical.

Digital & AI: We all talk about AI and advanced analytics, but how many of our deployments are actually scaled into procedures, training, and licensing bases versus frozen in pilots because of “black box” and safety‑culture fears?

Culture: Are we using “nuclear is different” as a shield against necessary change, or as a standard that forces us to be more rigorous in how we adopt new tools?

From where I sit, 2026 feels like a pivot year.

The outside world has already decided nuclear is needed. The real question is whether we’re willing to change fast enough, on workforce, on digitalization, on commercial models, to actually deliver what we’ve implicitly promised.

For those of you running plants, projects, or key suppliers:

What is the most underrated ex*****on risk you see right now that almost nobody is talking about publicly? And what’s one concrete thing we, as an industry, could do in the next 12 months to de‑risk it?

I’d love to hear candid views from operators, regulators, engineers and vendors. If we can’t have this conversation openly here, where can we?

05/05/2026

Congratulations Holtec International! 🎉

The Palisades restart effort is a standout example of Holtec’s end‑to‑end, turnkey approach, bringing together the full range of capabilities needed to complete the world’s first return to service of a previously shut‑down nuclear plant.

https://holtecinternational.com/hh-41-05/

04/30/2026

Transform your plant operations with unified AI insights! Let's lead the future!

See how KR Data Lakehouse and KR AI/ML unify siloed energy data into a single platform for predictive insights and smarter plant operations.

04/28/2026

Leadership transitions are pivotal in the energy sector, especially for major players like the Tennessee Valley Authority. The TVA Board has appointed Mike Skaggs, with over 40 years of experience, as interim President and CEO following Don Moul's retirement. This move ensures continuity in TVA's mission to power the Tennessee Valley with reliable, clean energy. Strong leadership will be key as TVA advances its nuclear and grid modernization efforts.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The TVA Board of Directors today announced the selection of Mike Skaggs as TVA’s interim President and CEO. Skaggs has more than 40 years of experience in the utility industry including serving as TVA’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) from 2018 to 2021.