Transmission How America’s AI Demand Boom is Being Powered with Peter Sawicki (Mitsubishi Power Americas)
The AI boom has led to unprecedented demand for data centers in the US. With interconnection queues stretching for years, hyperscalers can no longer wait for traditional grid capacity to catch up.
In this episode, Alex speaks with Peter Sawicki - Vice President of Business Development of Emerging Technologies at Mitsubishi Power Americas. They explore how the industry is pivoting to "bring your own power" solutions to bridge the gap. They discuss how manufacturers are pairing trailer-mounted gas turbines with battery storage to deliver the critical reliability that data centers require, along with the evolving role of gas in the transition, the technical reality of hydrogen-ready infrastructure, and why the immediate priority has shifted from decarbonization to pure deliverability.
Key topics discussed
- Why unprecedented load growth from AI and domestic offshoring has caught the power industry by surprise.
- How developers are bypassing long interconnection queues.
- Why pairing gas generation with battery storage is essential for managing the millisecond demand surges of large language models.
- What ‘hydrogen-ready’ actually mean for turbine technology and the future of long-duration seasonal storage.
- How the industry’s priority stack fundamentally shifted from long-term decarbonization goals to immediate speed to power.
About our guest.
Peter Sawicki is the leader of the Emerging Technologies group at Mitsubishi Power, a division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. A veteran of the power industry with 30 years of experience, Peter has spent the last 11 years at Mitsubishi. In his current role, Peter focuses on business development for "non-conventional" customers, specifically targeting hyperscalers, co-locators, and land developers navigating the massive data center build-out driven by the AI boom. You can find Peter on LinkedIn here
About Modo Energy
Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage understand the market — and make the most out of their assets.
All episodes of Transmission are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To stay up to date with our analysis, research, data visualisations, live events, and conversations, follow us on LinkedIn. Explore The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series explaining how power markets work.