Duke Energy Turns to Big Tech to Help Beef Up Power Grid

US power company Duke Energy Corp. is in talks with tech companies including Microsoft Corp. about tapping generators installed at their data centers to add electricity to the grid during periods of high demand.

“We’re talking about how we can say yes to serving these large loads while meeting the needs of our customers at large,” Duke Chief Financial Officer Brian Savoy said in an interview Thursday before the company held its earnings call with analysts.

The potential plan would have Duke calling its data-center customers when more electricity is needed and paying them to turn on large generators that ...