Duke Energy to Raise $10B in Equity to Fund Data-Center Gas Buildout

Duke Energy told investors on its August 4 earnings call that it will issue $10 billion in new common equity between 2027 and 2030 to help fund a $103 billion five-year capital plan, the largest spending program on file at any regulated U.S. utility. The company has already priced $600 million of that equity through at-the-market offerings this year, settling at the end of 2027, which it says locks in pricing and de-risks future capital needs.

Why it matters

A utility does not raise $10 billion of new equity for demand it has not already contracted. For developers weighing where a hyperscale project can actually get power, the equity raise is the financial confirmation behind Duke’s generation math: 7.8 gigawatts of signed data-center service agreements today, trending toward 15.4 gigawatts by mid-2027. The build has to be funded before it can be delivered, and Duke just told the market how it plans to pay for it, mostly stock, not just debt, which signals the company sees the load as durable enough to dilute existing shareholders for.

The numbers

The plan adds 15 gigawatts of new generation by 2031, split between 7.5 gigawatts of gas, roughly 4.5 gigawatts of battery storage, and a 300 megawatt expansion of the existing nuclear fleet, CEO Harry Sideris said on the call. Of the gas total, 5 gigawatts is already under construction and 2.5 gigawatts is in development. More than 5 gigawatts of data-center load is under construction in Duke’s territory today, CFO Brian Savoy said, with customers moving to vertical construction on their own facilities. Duke’s 8-K reaffirmed 2026 adjusted earnings guidance of $6.55 to $6.80 per share.

What’s next

The equity issuance schedule runs through 2030, meaning Duke will keep tapping capital markets in stages rather than one large block sale, a structure it says protects existing shareholders from a single dilutive event. For developers in Duke’s six-state footprint, spanning national hyperscale corridors from the Carolinas to Florida and Indiana, the signal is that the utility’s financing is now sized to the contracted load, not the other way around.