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This preview is part of the Future Forecast Report: U.S., based on discussions held at the Energy Council New York Advisory Board in February 2026.

Bringing together leading investors, lenders, and asset managers, the session explored how capital is being deployed across U.S. energy markets amid shifting policy, rising power demand, and growing geopolitical uncertainty.

In this snippet of the report, we examine how AI-driven data centre growth is accelerating power demand and reshaping investment priorities across energy infrastructure.

Even as investors grow more cautious on risk, they are doubling down on growth.

As highlighted in the previous article, policy uncertainty is tightening investment criteria, but at the same time, AI-driven data centre demand is emerging as a major force reshaping capital allocation.

AI-driven data centre demand is emerging as a major force reshaping capital allocation.

Participants noted that this convergence of AI, data centers, and power is driving a significant increase in financing opportunities for power infrastructure. As one investor observed, “AI is energy and power, and power and energy are AI.”

Participants described a clear shift in capital allocation toward projects connected to AI-driven load growth. “It’s all a big convergence, and from the financing side, anything that has ‘AI’ or ‘gas’ in it is doing better than projects that don’t,” noted one investor.

“Anything that has ‘AI’ or ‘gas’ in it is doing better than projects that don’t.”

By contrast, the group acknowledged relatively less momentum for upstream oil and gas, oilfield services, and other traditional industrial sectors.

The group emphasized that these trends are reshaping broader capital deployment.

Projects connected to AI-driven power demand are attracting more investment than many conventional energy projects, while ESG-focused investors see opportunities to electrify new loads with cleaner power, offsetting incremental fossil generation.

Several participants noted that the expanding U.S. power market offers a way to support AI growth without taking direct equity exposure. Market metrics underscore these trends.

Average power purchase agreement (PPA) prices for cleaner and hybrid energy projects have risen more than 20% year-over year, with hyperscalers paying as much as 40% more than a year ago for contracted power.

In the PJM market, PPA prices have increased 30–40% over the past two years. Board members noted, however, that a portion of these increases reflect higher construction costs for project developers, not solely demand growth.

Participants determined that AI-driven demand is creating opportunities for fundamentals-backed investment in U.S. power, characterized by contracted revenues, operational certainty, and opportunities to expand low-carbon energy capacity.

Continue reading to understand how this surge in AI-driven power demand is translating into real-world infrastructure challenges and opportunities, as hyperscale data centre operators reshape energy systems through evolving requirements around efficiency, reliability, and on-site generation.

What’s next?

These issues will be explored in greater depth at Energy Council New York (June 26-17, 2026) where industry leaders, investors, and policymakers will examine how energy and wider infrastructure markets are recalibrating and where the next wave of opportunity is emerging.