US Eyes Backup Generators From Walmart in Quest for Power (1)

The US is looking to tap the nation’s network of large industrial diesel generators used at data centers, big box stores and elsewhere to help curb rising electricity costs and support the surge in power demand from artificial intelligence, according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Such a move could add roughly 35 nuclear power plants worth of electricity and negate the need to build scores of power plants that could cost tens of billions of dollars, Wright said Tuesday at the North American Gas Forum in Washington.

Shares of Generac Holdings Inc., the nation’s leading maker of stationary ...