For Nedra Hurley, the path to the executive suite began long before she entered the workforce. Growing up as the daughter of an electrician, she developed an early understanding of the industry that would shape her career.

Graduating as an electrical engineer sparked a career journey that would take her across every corner of the utility ecosystem – from power generation to transmission and distribution – and into her role as senior vice president of business development at Southwire.

“What excites me most is that they brought me in to understand the markets, where growth is really happening, and what that means strategically; developing solutions that help both the utility industry and the data center industry,” she says.

Drawing on more than two decades of industry experience, Hurley combines deep technical expertise with a keen understanding of customer challenges. At Southwire, she is helping shape the company’s strategic direction while enforcing a reputation as a leading manufacturer of power transmission solutions that address the evolving needs of the energy and data center sectors.

A power mismatch

Data center energy demands are getting more and more dramatic, entering truly unprecedented levels amid the rapid expansion of AI and hyperscale facilities. According to Goldman Sachs Research, data center power demand is projected to rise by 175 percent by 2030, compared with 2023 levels – a surge that existing grid infrastructure is ill-equipped to support.

Hurley explains that this rising demand comes with the issue of more than 15GW of annual capacity currently missing from the grid to support projected growth, leaving utilities struggling to generate and transmit enough electricity to actually create the compute required in the AI era.

This issue transports all the way across the electricity value chain – from the point of power through transmission lines to substations and local distribution networks. And much of the challenge stems from the age of the grid itself.

“Most of the US utility grid was built 50-70 years ago. If you buy an old house and you want to put in all these smart features and add new rooms and bathrooms, you’ve got to redo the plumbing and electrical system. That’s what’s going on right now,” Hurley explains.

Attempting to support highly dynamic AI workloads on half-century-old infrastructure introduces significant operational challenges. Unlike traditional loads, AI data centers can exhibit volatile fluctuations, creating new stresses on equipment and requiring a level of grid flexibility that many legacy systems were never designed to provide.

Renewable energy integration presents another layer of complexity. While solar, wind, and battery energy storage systems are essential to decarbonizing the power sector, their intermittent nature requires sophisticated grid management. During periods of high demand, the transience of these resources can introduce issues such as power harmonics and voltage instability, making careful system planning more important than ever.

So where enhanced digital connectivity is concerned, Hurley emphasizes that digital transformation cannot outpace power infrastructure; investment in modernizing the grid must remain a priority.

“The key thing here is for data centers and grid operators to really square away what the load profile is going to be, so they can make sure the generation, transmission, and distribution all sync up. Otherwise, we’re going to have major challenges moving forward.”

Modular and smart technologies for future deployments

As utilities and data center operators increasingly face mounting grid constraints and skilled labor shortages, Hurley believes modular infrastructure and smart grid technologies will be instrumental in accelerating the industry’s next phase of growth.

Factory-built, prefabricated systems are transforming how critical electrical infrastructure is deployed. Rather than relying on extensive field installation, modular equipment can be assembled, tested, and configured in controlled manufacturing environments before being delivered ready for installation, reducing on-site labor requirements and improving speed and consistency.

“Prefabricated solutions with prefabricated cables allow you to quickly terminate one end to the other, so therefore you don’t have to have as much labor. It's the way of the future,” Hurley explains.

Beyond modularity, digital intelligence is becoming equally important. One of the examples Hurley cites draws on her experience with smart substations, pointing to the value of real-time visibility into energy flows, enabling operators to monitor system performance, reroute power when necessary, and make informed decisions before problems arise.

The shift, she says, is moving utilities from a reactive approach to a proactive, more predictive one.

Hurley is particularly encouraged by the industry’s growing interest in 800VDC architectures. By standardizing equipment and enabling closer collaboration with OEMs, these higher-voltage DC systems could minimize operational stress in the field as AI-driven infrastructure continues to scale.

Is this a bubble?

For Hurley, the AI-driven upsurge in data center development is no passing trend. The growth in electricity demand is evidence that the industry has entered a sustained period of transformation, requiring long-term investment in digital infrastructure and the power systems that support it.

If there is one message she hopes the industry takes away, it’s that what are often considered buzzwords – partnerships and collaboration – are more important than ever.

“Those who learn how to partner and collaborate and get together sooner to be more proactive are going to end up being the winners,” Hurley says.

No single organization can solve these challenges alone, and success will depend on utilities, technology providers, manufacturers, and data center operators working together early on in the planning process to align capacity, infrastructure, and long-term demand.

Watch the full DCD>Talks episode here.