Black & Veatch positioned for human critical infrastructure growth across energy, power and water
As global demand for fuels, power, water and digital infrastructure accelerate, Black & Veatch sees significant growth opportunities across the systems that underpin today’s needs. These priorities are at the center of conversations the company’s leaders and technical experts will have with world policymakers, fellow industry leaders and global clients this week during CERAWeek 2026 where the focus has shifted from awareness to execution and delivering infrastructure that is reliable, affordable, resilient and built at scale.
Rising demand for fuels and electricity driven by artificial intelligence (AI), electrification and economic growth is converging with water accessibility constraints, supply chain and skilled labor pressures and the push to modernize aging infrastructure, including the power grid. Together, these forces are reshaping how energy, critical minerals and other feedstocks, water and human critical infrastructure must be planned and delivered.
“Technology adoption, in particular, is driving a relentlessly fast pace of demand for additional power infrastructure. This is pushing all involved players to stretch and move at a faster pace, from clients, policy makers, global supply chains and companies like us doing the work,” said Black & Veatch Chairman and CEO Mario Azar, who will be speaking on a CERAWeek panel on the impact of digital and AI technologies on the energy transition. “Our job is to bring this much-needed infrastructure to life, and our discussions with clients are focused on pragmatism: how to move faster, reduce risk and deliver systems that balance energy security, affordability and carbon footprint in the real world.”
Across fuels, power, water and compute infrastructure, clients are increasingly seeking integrated solutions that address entire ecosystems rather than individual assets. For Black & Veatch, that means engineering and constructing energy infrastructure as interconnected systems: from fuel production to power generation and storage, smart power delivery and industrial water, all using natural resources prudently and designed to perform together reliably from day one.
A pragmatic approach to the energy transition is central to these discussions. While natural gas acts as today’s primary fuel source for baseload power, renewables continue to scale as other fuel sources emerge. The transition must also strengthen reliability and resilience through grid modernization, expanded storage and enhanced cybersecurity. Infrastructure delivery speed — including permitting, interconnection, supply chains, and engineering and construction capacity — has become as decisive as technology itself.
“Our job is to keep power affordable and reliable while helping clients utilize mixed sources of energy in ways that actually get built,” Azar said. “If a solution isn’t reliable, resilient and economically buildable at scale, it doesn’t move the system forward.”
This system-level thinking extends beyond power. Delivering resilient, reliable, safe and affordable water across the full water cycle — raw, drinking, wastewater, stormwater and reuse — is critical. Increasingly, water availability and cooling are strategic requirements for both industrial manufacturing growth and expanding power generation. That same system-level lens applies to advanced fuels, including floating LNG solutions, which help unlock new gas supply, improve project flexibility and strengthen global energy security while reducing onshore infrastructure constraints. At the same time, critical minerals are playing an increasingly important role in enabling electrification and long-term global energy security.
Anticipating the needs for how clients plan, invest in and deliver infrastructure, Black & Veatch realigned its sectors to more closely reflect the solutions clients around the world need to advance their efforts and make it easier for them to access the broadest portfolios of solutions and expertise.
The updated structure brings essential capabilities together with other natural resources to better serve water municipalities and utilities, while also strengthening support for ‘molecule-oriented’ markets such as fuels, chemicals and other heavy process industries. This alignment enables Black & Veatch to seamlessly deliver more integrated, end-to-end solutions across energy, water and human critical infrastructure — from strategy and feasibility through execution and operations.
“This alignment reflects how our clients actually build and operate infrastructure,” Azar said. “They don’t think in silos, and neither do we – it requires constant evolution. Our strength is orchestrating across disciplines, technologies and stakeholders to deliver proven outcomes — not just assets.”
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