We need every single kilowatt we can get; not just every megawatt.
As the 2026 Ohio Valley Tripartite Conference met Aug. 11-12 in Lexington, Kentucky, the area’s fast-growing need for amped up energy production prompted some familiar discussion: Data centers are expanding rapidly across America, and each one requires an incredible amount of power to run, which puts more strain on already thinly stretched grids. Many plans to retire reliable fossil power generation, such as coal, have halted, and there’s an increased demand for new power generation sources, including nuclear and gas, to be built or retrofit.
It all needs to be constructed or maintained by a skilled and trained workforce—and a lot of that work is Boilermaker work.
“You can’t wake up these days and not hear about data centers,” said Mike Dorsey, Chairman of the National Maintenance Policy Committee.
Dorsey said he describes this as an “era of mega jobs,” and he defined a mega job as a project that’s over $1 billion in project value. He said 20 years ago, there were few jobs like that. When there was a $1 billion job, it was major news.
“Now, across the country, we’re tracking 150 different $1 billion-plus jobs,” he said. “What does that mean for manpower in my mind? I’ve started using the phrase ‘unprecedented labor demand.’ I’ve stopped using ‘manpower shortage.’”
International Rep and conference organizer Dan Decarlo knows recruitment is the key to enable Boilermakers to perform this workload. “It’s going to take all three tripartite partners to accomplish finding enough people. International President Simmons was correct in his statement that all local lodges need to double or triple their membership in the next five years,” he said. “The Ohio Valley Tripartite Conference was not only the first of its kind but a true tripartite effort. Multiple owners and contractors have offered to assist us any way they can to recruit and thus ensure success for all partners.”
Chad Southall, Tennessee Valley Authority Manager Project Agreements, said the Boilermakers union was the only trade that participated with TVA at a local event promoting a career in the trades. He estimated between 7oo-800 students attended the event and ranged from middle school age to recent high school graduates.
“If we don’t utilize the resources and grow the workforce, it’s going to be a problem,” he said. “We need to adapt with each other on how to make this successful.”
TVA mandates 33% apprentice utilization on jobsites, so taking advantage of recruitment opportunities is especially critical.
Mike Tussey, Construction Manager at American Electric Power, echoed the importance of attracting the next skilled and trained workforce into apprenticeship, and he added another layer of concern: training leaders, such as superintendents, among the current workforce.
“The market is being depleted of leadership,” he said. “I’ve had contractors say they weren’t interested in bidding work, because they didn’t feel like they had the management team to support that work.”
While Tussey acknowledged it’s easy to continue utilizing the veteran tried-and-true leaders to run jobs, he encouraged everyone in the building trades to look for opportunities to train new people, develop their leadership skills and prepare them to replace those who are retiring.
“We’re looking for innovation and skilled craftspeople,” he said. “There’s going to be a plethora of work opportunities between 2027 and 2032.”
While he could not disclose the number of megawatts AEP plans to build in those five years, most of which will be gas plants, “Suffice it to say, it’s going to be enough to keep every Boilermaker we can find working.”
He said AEP plans to continue maintaining its existing coal-fired units and is investing millions of dollars to keep them running. Many of them are in West Viriginia.
“You need that reliable coal generation,” said Nathan Hyrne, Director of Business Development at Enerfab. “There’s still a benefit to owners to maintain those existing coal assets for the long term. Across the fleet, owners are trying to not only build new gas generation but maintain the coal fleet and start investing in the future of nuclear programs.”
Hyrne said gas continues to increase in demand and more nuclear is in the future, as small modular reactors could become viable with additional testing. For now, owners are building combined cycle gas across the board and nuclear retrofits and rebuilds are a top priority.
John Larson, Director of Public Policy and Economic Development for Dominion Energy, said Dominion also would not be retiring any coal-fired assets in the near term.
“We just can’t afford to do it. We have to have that capacity available and online,” he said.
Dominion is planning nearly $55 billion in investment over the next five years in combined cycle, simple cycle and transmission projects. They’re also renewing licenses at their existing nuclear facilities.
“There’s a tremendous amount of work that’s going to be coming about, both at our Surry and North Anna Power Station as we look at that,” Larson said. “It’s going to be a massive, massive infrastructure increase but we can spend about $5 billion on each of those sites and basically have units that can run for another 60 years.” Far more cost and time effective, he explained, than building new.
Data centers, he said, are the biggest demand driver for increased power generation. He pointed out that data storage has skyrocketed 700% since the COVID-19 pandemic. Data centers will continue to expand.
“We need every single kilowatt we can get; not just every megawatt,” he said.
