WSP Power Backlog Hits Record as US Grid Work Reshapes Revenue Mix
US power and data center demand drove WSP's backlog to a record CA$20.1 billion in Q2 2026, even as quarterly net income fell 12%.
WSP Global reported a record CA$20.1 billion order book for the second quarter of 2026, up 23% from CA$16.3 billion a year earlier, representing 11.6 months of revenue cover. The figures came from the Canadian engineering firm's August 6 (2026-08-06) earnings call, where management attributed the surge to accelerating US power and data center demand.2
Power now accounts for approximately 35% to 40% of WSP's US revenue, CEO Alexandre L'Heureux said. Five years ago, transportation and infrastructure generated about 80% of the firm's US total. The revenue base has effectively been restructured around the build-out of the American power grid and the data centers placing new demands on it.2
Net revenue from WSP's 40 largest global power clients rose 30% year over year during the quarter ended June 26 (2026-06-26), while hard backlog from those clients in the US climbed 20%. Data center revenue grew more than 20% year over year in the first half of 2026, with the sales pipeline expanding approximately 30% over the same period. "I'm very impressed with the scale of the bids that we're pursuing right now," L'Heureux said on the call.2
The demand behind those numbers has external support. US utilities have already committed to adding 116 gigawatts of large load to their networks, equivalent to around 15% of US peak electricity demand, as data center connection requests accumulate, Wood Mackenzie tracking showed. Spending by the five largest hyperscalers on data center facilities is forecast to exceed $300 billion in 2025, a 50% year-over-year increase, Wood Mackenzie projected.1
Group revenue rose 20% to CA$5.4 billion ($3.9 billion) for the quarter, compared with CA$4.5 billion a year earlier. But net income fell 12% to CA$246.1 million from CA$279.4 million over the same period. Top-line momentum and margin compression in the same quarter point to cost pressures that record backlogs do not resolve on their own.2
WSP did not elaborate on the causes of the margin decline in excerpts from the call. Engineering labor markets for grid and power work have tightened across the US, with demand for transmission specialists and electrical engineers outpacing supply in several regions. Whether WSP absorbed higher costs to win large bids, or whether execution costs ran above initial estimates on active projects, cannot be determined from the data available.2
Water was a separate growth leg. Water revenue increased 20% year over year, and the water opportunity pipeline surged 61% as municipalities invested in aging infrastructure, PFAS remediation and climate resilience programs, WSP said. That broadens the firm's revenue base but also means execution risk now spans power, data centers, and complex municipal programs simultaneously.2
CFO Alain Michaud's characterization on the call was direct: "We continue to see accelerating momentum in the U.S." The backlog data supports that. Yet a CA$20.1 billion order book creates its own execution challenge. Margins on those projects will depend heavily on whether WSP can staff up at cost levels that were priced into the original bids.2
The net income trajectory in the third quarter of 2026 will offer the clearest read on that question. Sustained margin compression alongside a growing backlog would suggest the firm is bidding aggressively to win share in a crowded market for power engineering talent. A recovery would indicate the Q2 2026 result was a timing effect, absorbed as the business scales into its restructured US revenue mix.2