Power Generation
Power generators operating coal, gas, nuclear, hydro, and renewable assets as independent producers or under utility ownership.
- 7
- Segments
- 28
- Verticals
Overview
Power Generation covers the production of electricity across all sources — natural gas and coal, nuclear, hydroelectric, and the fast-growing renewables (solar and wind). Sized from reported generation establishments, it represents roughly $146 billion in wholesale/merchant generation revenue, with much utility-owned generation also captured within regulated distribution.
The sector is in a generational transformation: coal is retiring, renewables are surging (solar generation grew ~25% and wind ~13% annually), natural gas serves as the bridge fuel and reliability backbone, and nuclear is enjoying a renaissance. After two decades of flat electricity demand, load growth is re-accelerating — driven by data centers and AI, electrification, and reshoring — reshaping generation planning and making capacity, reliability, and clean power strategic priorities.
Market snapshot
- Market size
- ~$142B
- Growth
- ~3.2%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
- Companies
- ~631 firms
51.8% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 325 micro-businesses, below most mandates.
- 20–99
- 7425%
- 100–499
- 6522%
- 500+
- 16354%
Generation is where deregulation left the most heterogeneous asset base in utilities: the same megawatt-hour is worth very different money depending on fuel, contract and market. Because the classification splits plants by fuel rather than by owner, and one code covers all fossil generation, the segment figures below are thinner than the sector total — read the fuel detail in the federal indicators rather than inferring it from receipts.
NAICS 221111, 221112, 221113, 221118, 221121. U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Economic Census.
Business model & economics
Revenue model
Wholesale power sales, PPAs, and capacity payments
Key economics
- Revenue per firm
- $225,152,968
- Revenue per employee
- $1,099,667
- Employees per firm
- 206.7
- Recurring revenue
- High
- EBITDA margin
- Source- and market-dependent
- Capex intensity
- High
recurring wholesale and contracted power
Characteristics
- Scale-driven — payroll is only 12% of revenue; the cost base is assets, not headcount
- Deep strategic-buyer pool — 163 firms exceed 500 employees, so a scaled asset has trade buyers
- Generational transformation: coal out, renewables surging.
- Load growth re-accelerating (data centers, AI, electrification).
- Gas the reliability backbone; nuclear renaissance.
NAICS 221111, 221112, 221113, 221118, 221121. U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Economic Census.
M&A deal context
Who’s acquiring
- Independent power producers & utilities
- Infrastructure funds & developers
- Hyperscalers & corporate power buyers
What’s driving deals
- Renewable development and capacity build-out.
- Data-center-driven load growth and PPAs.
- Nuclear renaissance and IPP consolidation.
Segments in this industry
- 6.4.1Coal & Thermal Power Generation4 verticals
- 6.4.2Combined Heat & Power (CHP)4 verticals
- 6.4.3Hydroelectric Power Generation4 verticals
- 6.4.4Independent Power Producers (IPP)4 verticals
- 6.4.5Natural Gas Power Generation4 verticals
- 6.4.6Nuclear Power Generation4 verticals
- 6.4.7Power Grid Operations & Management4 verticals
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