American utilities(公用事业公司) are enjoying a “golden age of power demand(电力需求的黄金时代)” thanks to artificial intelligence, declared(宣称、宣布) John Ketchum, boss of NextEra Energy, last year. That is why on May 18th his company, already the world’s largest listed utility, announced that it would acquire(收购、获得) Dominion Energy, a smaller power provider based in Virginia whose territory(区域、领土) covers the largest data-centre cluster(数据中心集群) in the world.
NextEra Energy的老板约翰·凯彻姆去年宣称，由于人工智能，美国公用事业公司正享受着“电力需求的黄金时代”。这就是为什么5月18日，他的公司——已经是全球市值最高的上市公用事业公司——宣布将收购Dominion Energy，这是一家总部位于弗吉尼亚州的规模较小的电力供应商，其服务区域覆盖了全球最大的数据中心集群。
The mega-deal(巨型交易), which values Dominion at $124bn and the combined company at $420bn, including debt, is the latest in the spate of supersize transactions(一连串超大规模交易) that have been announced since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January last year. It demonstrates how AI has put the dull utilities sector at the heart of the world’s hottest technology—and brought a political firestorm.(它展示了人工智能如何将平淡无奇的公用事业部门置于世界最热门技术的核心——并引发了一场政治风暴。)
这笔巨型交易将Dominion估值1240亿美元，合并后公司含债务估值4200亿美元，是自去年1月唐纳德·特朗普重返白宫以来宣布的一系列超大规模交易中的最新一笔。它展示了人工智能如何将平淡无奇的公用事业部门置于世界最热门技术的核心——并引发了一场政治风暴。
Perhaps no company has navigated America’s power politics better than NextEra. Founded in 1925 as a local energy supplier in Florida, in the 21st century it reinvented(彻底改造、重塑) itself as America’s leading developer of wind and solar farms. More recently, with Mr Trump railing against(严厉批评、痛斥) “windmills”, the company has rebalanced(重新平衡) its efforts towards natural gas, nuclear power and battery storage.
也许没有哪家公司比NextEra更善于驾驭美国的能源政治。该公司于1925年在佛罗里达州成立，最初是一家本地能源供应商，21世纪转型为美国领先的风能和太阳能农场开发商。最近，随着特朗普先生痛斥“风车”，该公司已重新平衡其努力方向，转向天然气、核能和电池存储。
