Data centres lift Hubbell sales 80% and FirstEnergy's pipeline to 26 GW

Serguey Asael Shinder30 October 2026, 09:332 min read

Two earnings calls this week show data centre demand at two points in the chain, and the gap between them is the useful part.

At the equipment end, Hubbell said on 27 October that organic sales in its Electrical Solutions segment rose 22% year over year and that sales to data centres grew more than 80%, ahead of the company's own expectations for the year (https://www.utilitydive.com/news/data-center-purchases-of-electrical-equipment-up-80-since-2025-hubbell/873134). Its utility business was slower: organic sales rose 5%, with grid infrastructure up 8% and grid automation down 4%, partly because a contract manufacturer could not source a component for meters, a shortage the company expects to clear by year-end. Hubbell spends about $25 million a quarter on extra capacity and plans to double that next year.

At the utility end, FirstEnergy said on 28 October that its long-term data centre pipeline, contracted and potential load together, grew 4.8% in the quarter to 26 GW, and in West Virginia to 6 GW from 4.3 GW (https://www.utilitydive.com/news/firstenergy-data-center-pipeline-maidsville/873149). Chief executive Brian Tierney said the first wave is expected online around 2030. Two of its utilities have reserved Siemens Energy turbines for 2030 delivery for the roughly $2.7 billion Maidsville Energy Center, a 1,200 MW gas plant with 70 MW of solar, and have asked for proposals for another 3 GW of combined-cycle turbines.

What it means

Equipment makers are booking data centre orders now, while a utility's 26 GW is mostly a pipeline rather than signed load, with first deliveries years out. The two numbers measure different things and should not be added up. The difference shows where the risk sits: suppliers are paid as they ship, while utilities and their other customers carry the generation and grid investment if the projects in the pipeline do not arrive. Both sets of figures are company statements on earnings calls, as reported by Utility Dive.