NextEra Energy (NASDAQ: NEE) Moves to Meet AI’s Exploding Power Needs

Disseminated on behalf of PowerBank Corporation

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The rapid rise of artificial intelligence and cloud computing is forcing a fundamental rethink of U.S. power infrastructure. 

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Data centers, once a niche load, are now among the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand, pushing utilities and energy developers to plan for a future where compute growth and power generation are tightly linked.

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That shift was underscored recently when NextEra Energy (NASDAQ: NEE) announced plans to develop 15 gigawatts of new generation capacity dedicated to data center hubs by 2035. The company says it already has roughly 20 GW of interest from large-load customers, much of it from hyperscale data center operators. 

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Branded internally as “15 by 35,” the initiative highlights how electrification tied to digital infrastructure is becoming a central growth engine for utilities.

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You see, data centers sit at the core of modern digital life: powering AI models, cloud platforms, and global data flows. As these facilities multiply and workloads become more energy-intensive, electricity consumption from the sector is widely expected to roughly double by 2030. That growth is straining traditional grid models built around predictable, slower-growing demand.

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To meet this challenge, utilities and developers are increasingly turning to renewable generation paired with grid-scale energy storage. 

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Solar and storage offer a scalable way to add capacity while addressing emissions goals and providing the reliability data centers require. Batteries, in particular, are becoming critical for smoothing variability and delivering continuous power to always-on facilities.

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Now alongside large utilities, smaller renewable infrastructure developers are positioning themselves to serve this wave of demand, too. PowerBank Corporation (NASDAQ: SUUN) is one such example. The company develops solar photovoltaic projects and battery energy storage systems (BESS) and reports a development pipeline of more than one gigawatt across Canada and the United States.

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PowerBank’s focus aligns closely with what data center operators are seeking:

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• Solar plus storage solutions that deliver low-carbon electricity with high uptime
  
  
• Battery systems that help balance intermittent generation and support round-the-clock loads
  
  
• Targeted development intended by PowerBank in markets where power demand from data centers is accelerating
  
  

The company has also indicated interest in the support of emerging compute models, including more aggressive concepts such as space-based data infrastructure, underscoring how broadly it is thinking about future power demand.

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Two Sides of the Same Trend

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For a utility like NextEra, committing 15 GW of capacity to data center hubs represents a multi-billion-dollar build-out backed by long-term customer demand. 

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For developers like PowerBank, the same trend opens a strategic lane: supplying clean, dispatchable energy to a sector that is growing faster than the grid was originally designed to handle.

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As data center construction continues at scale, the companies best positioned will be those that can deliver reliable power, fast deployment, and flexible storage. The convergence of AI, cloud computing, and clean energy is no longer theoretical; it is already reshaping how power infrastructure gets planned, financed, and built.

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Bottom line: Data centers are becoming one of the most important drivers of electricity demand this decade. NextEra’s capacity targets illustrate the scale of what’s coming, while PowerBank’s solar and storage pipeline shows how renewable infrastructure developers can participate in powering the digital economy.

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Disclaimer

PowerBank does not presently have any contracts with hyperscalers for power supply, sale of assets or a corporate transaction.

This report contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information ‎within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, “forward-looking ‎statements”) that relate to the Company’s current expectations and views of future events. ‎Any statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, ‎objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, through the ‎use of words or phrases such as “will likely result”, “are expected to”, “expects”, “will ‎continue”, “is anticipated”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimated”, “intends”, “plans”, “forecast”, ‎‎”projection”, “strategy”, “objective” and “outlook”) are not historical facts and may be ‎forward-looking statements and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties ‎which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in ‎such forward-looking statements. In particular and without limitation, this report ‎contains forward-looking statements pertaining to the Company’s expectations regarding industry trends and overall market growth; intentions of hyperscalers and large technology companies regarding power needs, contracts or acquisitions; the details of the collaboration with Orbit AI and its expected benefits; the Company’s contributions towards the collaboration with Orbit AI; the timelines for Orbit AI’s operations the Company’s growth strategies, and the size of the Company’s development pipeline. No assurance ‎can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking ‎statements included in this report should not be unduly relied upon. These ‎statements speak only as of the date of this report.‎

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