Good morning. The load-growth map is getting crowded: utilities are eyeing mergers, statehouses are testing data-center limits, and nuclear, gas and renewables are all pitching themselves as the answer.
Top Stories
NEXTERA-DOMINION DEAL WOULD RESHAPE UTILITY POWER
E&E News / Politico Pro
A potential combination of two of the country's biggest electric companies would land directly in the states already feeling pressure from data centers, rate cases and new generation needs.
DATA CENTERS ENTER PENNSYLVANIA'S GOVERNOR RACE
Pennsylvania Capital-Star
The fight over AI infrastructure is becoming campaign material, with both parties trying to turn siting, subsidies and ratepayer anxiety into a liability for the other side.
CLIMATE ACTIVISTS PICK A NEW TARGET: DATA CENTERS
Grist
The anti-data-center coalition is starting to look like the next home for climate organizing, local environmental fights and post-Green New Deal energy politics.
PERMIT FREEZE PUTS $121B IN CLEAN POWER AT RISK
Reuters
Permitting delays are not just slowing climate goals; they are threatening the new capacity utilities need as AI load, electrification and reliability needs rise together.
GE VERNOVA RIDES THE AI GAS-TURBINE BOOM
CNBC
Data-center buyers want speed and firm power, and gas turbines are becoming one of the clearest winners when the grid cannot move fast enough.
Power & Grid
TAX-CREDIT CUTOFF TRIGGERS SOLAR PROJECT SCRAMBLE
Reuters
Developers are racing the July 4 deadline, and the policy whiplash could raise the cost of new power just as utilities need cheaper capacity fast.
SOLAR KEEPS BOOMING UNDER A HOSTILE WHITE HOUSE
The Telegraph
The market signal is awkward for Washington: even with anti-renewables rhetoric, the cheapest new electrons are still pulling capital toward solar.
WHITE HOUSE ESCALATES CALIFORNIA ENERGY FIGHT
Guardian US
The clash with California's coastal agency turns energy permitting into another federal-state test, with offshore production, environmental review and political theater bundled together.
NEW REACTOR PUSH REACHES THE SAFETY FIGHT
NPR
Advanced nuclear is moving from speeches to test plans, and the next argument is whether speed is improving deployment or outrunning safety oversight.
NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE TURNS TOWARD MASS DEPLOYMENT
Deseret News
The nuclear story is shifting from one-off demonstration projects to manufacturing, siting and repeatable deployment, which is where the economics finally get tested.
Data Centers
MICHIGAN LAWMAKERS WEIGH DATA-CENTER RULES
Detroit Free Press
The Michigan debate shows the statehouse phase of the data-center boom: tax breaks, local control, water, power and land-use rules are all now negotiable.
ALABAMA BILL WOULD GIVE COUNTIES MORE SAY
FOX54 / Rocket City Now
Local-control bills are becoming the political release valve for data-center siting fights, especially where crypto facilities and hyperscale campuses get lumped together.
BIG TECH DOMINATES NORTH AMERICAN DATA CENTERS
Axios
The concentration of Amazon, Google and Microsoft sites explains why utility planning, state incentives and local backlash increasingly orbit the same small set of buyers.
DATA-CENTER POWER PATH COULD SWING COSTS BY BILLIONS
Forbes
The fuel mix matters: meeting AI demand mostly with fossil generation could cost far more than a cleaner buildout, turning resource planning into a ratepayer issue.
DATA CENTERS TRADE FLEXIBILITY FOR SPEED TO POWER
Utility Dive
Hyperscalers may accept more flexible operating terms if it gets projects energized sooner, but utilities still need rules that work outside one-off deals.
Stat of the Day
$67B
Size of the proposed NextEra-Dominion merger
The all-stock deal would be the largest power-sector combination in U.S. history, landing squarely in the states already strained by data-center load.
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