Commercial nuclear energy in the U.S. begins 2026 with strong momentum toward future expansion, but it will be years before new-build capacity comes online and possibly a decade or more before a significant amount of new gigawatts is added to the grid.

With support from the Trump administration and demand from data centers, 2025 and now 2026 are high times for the U.S. natural gas sector.

DOE is exceeding its authority by using Federal Power Act Section 202(c) to keep the J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan running under several consecutive “emergency” orders, opponents argued in recent court filings with the D.C. Circuit.

An announcement by the U.S. Department of Interior said the Department of Defense had identified wind farms as national security risks and is pausing offshore wind leases.

The House passed the SPEED Act, which aims to cut the timelines and litigation around NEPA reviews, but Democrats urged their Senate colleagues to improve the bill in a chamber where their votes are needed for passage.

House Republicans amended the SPEED Act on its way to a floor vote, in order to allow the Trump administration to keep repealing Biden-era permits for offshore wind, which led renewable energy groups to drop support for the bill.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration in an effort to recover billions of dollars in funding for EV charging infrastructure.

Data center developers’ imperative of speed to market not only stresses the power grid but also is felt on the ground as the giant facilities — often paired with onsite generation — spring up in neighborhoods overburdened by pollution.

Attendees at the gridCONNEXT conference, including the acting under secretary of energy and U.S. representatives, debated federal energy policy.