diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/detect_power-a6a679c8c3dd3262.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/detect_power-a6a679c8c3dd3262.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..76d31bf9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/detect_power-a6a679c8c3dd3262.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+features:
+  - The os_nova role can now detect a PowerNV environment and set the
+    virtualization type to 'kvm'.
diff --git a/tasks/nova_virt_detect.yml b/tasks/nova_virt_detect.yml
index d2ff392c..b3348621 100644
--- a/tasks/nova_virt_detect.yml
+++ b/tasks/nova_virt_detect.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 
 - name: Get virt type value and store as var
   shell: |
-    `which egrep` -c '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo
+    `which egrep` -c '(vmx|svm|PowerNV)' /proc/cpuinfo
   register: virt_type_value
   changed_when: false
   failed_when: false