Sunday, 11 October 2026

Amazon reported a USD 599 million unrealized gain in July, reflecting an increase in the value of some of its long-term electricity contracts over the first half of the year, according to The Seattle Times.

Amazon officials told The Seattle Times the gain was on paper rather than money the company had received.

The gain stems from timing. Amazon and other large technology companies locked in electricity prices for years, sometimes decades, by signing multibillion-dollar deals before prices rose, according to The Seattle Times.

One agreement is a 17-year, USD 18 billion contract to power new Pennsylvania data centers using an existing nuclear plant, The Seattle Times reported. That deal illustrates how demand from artificial intelligence can reshape energy markets and has helped fuel a backlash against data centers in places including Washington state and Texas.

Petra Power is selling solid oxide fuel cells to two customer groups: data-center operators that cannot wait for grid power, and the Defense Department, according to The Brief.

The company's solid oxide fuel cells are ceramic devices that convert fuels such as natural gas into electricity without burning them, according to TechCrunch. The company was founded in 2017.

Petra Power has received nearly USD 9 million in Defense Department contracts so far, and aims to scale that work in the coming years, TechCrunch reported.

The company is targeting its first customer deployment in 2028, with full-scale production hoped for in 2029, according to Goodman cited by TechCrunch.