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A year ago on The Risky Planner, Albert Brier and Nate Habermeyer made a series of predictions about where capital projects were headed.

Mining electrification. AI adoption in project controls. Autonomous equipment risk. Data center energy. Nuclear deals. Mega project cost performance.

This episode puts each prediction on trial against sourced data from 2025 and early 2026.

What you will learn:

00:00 Cold Open

03:00 News: Belt and Road Initiative hits $213.5B in 2025 construction deals

06:00 China's energy advantage and SMR race

12:00 Mine electrification: market tripling to $10.51B by 2033

15:45 Cogeneration: mining companies become power generators

17:00 Grid stability as a scheduling dependency

22:00 Mining vs. AI: competing for energy

26:00 Autonomous haul trucks: near-zero incidents with fleet separation

33:00 AI adoption: 12% usage, 29% unprepared, 40% price increase by 2027

39:00 AI job displacement: 37% of US companies replacing roles

43:00 Nuclear for AI: Meta signs 6GW deal in January 2026

44:00 Data center growth: 14% CAGR, $3T investment by 2030

48:00 Fiber optic demand: AI data centers need 36x more fiber

51:00 Mega projects: 9 out of 10 exceed budget

54:00 California High Speed Rail: 59% of segment complete

57:00 Advice for project executives on AI-driven planning

Key stats from the episode:

- Mining equipment electrification: $3.05B to $10.51B by 2033

- Each battery electric vehicle: 600 tonnes CO2 reduction/year, 20% productivity increase

- Texas power requests nearly quadrupled in 2025, 73% from AI data centers

- Meta: multi-gigawatt nuclear deals signed January 2026

- AI data centers: 36x more fiber than traditional builds

- 109 of 302 AI models had price changes in January 2026

- Rail projects: 44.7% average cost overrun

- 9 out of 10 mega projects exceed budget

The Risky Planner is produced by Dokainish & Company.

Music by Thompson Egbo-Egbo: egbomusic.com

Presented by Dokainish & Company www.dokainish.com

The Risky Planner podcast delivers expert insights on project controls, capital project management, and strategic planning for today's complex business environment. Subscribe for regular episodes featuring industry leaders and practical advice.