The Daily Mine — Tuesday, March 3, 2026

ERCOT GETS D- FOR GRID PLANNING — five years after the blackout that killed 57...
FOX 7 Austin / NPR
Texas's grid operator ranks among the nation's worst for long-range planning. Five years after the 2021 blackouts — 57 deaths, $195 billion in damage — ERCOT is now processing data center interconnection requests it has no procedure for.

500 GIGAWATTS: MISO says it may need to nearly double its grid by 2045...
RTO Insider
MISO's latest capacity modeling shows the Midwest grid could need between 413 and 501 GW of installed capacity in 20 years. That's nearly double today's fleet. The interconnection queue is the biggest bottleneck standing between here and there.

AMAZON BUYS A UNIVERSITY CAMPUS — Northern Virginia is out of data center land...
Reuters
Amazon's data center unit acquired George Washington University's Virginia campus. The world's largest data center market has run out of conventional real estate. Tech giants are buying campuses, warehouses, and former malls — anything with power and acreage.

TRUMP HATES RENEWABLES — the Iran war may help them anyway...
E&E News
The Iran conflict is spiking energy security anxiety — and ironically creating political space for renewables even inside a hostile administration. Energy security arguments are doing what climate arguments couldn't.

FERC GREENLIGHTS ComEd transmission deals with data centers — hundreds more in queue...
RTO Insider
FERC approved four transmission service agreements between ComEd and data center developers in PJM. A template for what connecting gigawatt-scale AI load to the grid looks like — and a preview of the regulatory backlog ahead.

D.C. RESIDENTS REVOLT OVER UTILITY BILL HIKES — anger reaches the capital...
Axios
Washington D.C. residents are pushing back hard against spiking utility bills. The backlash is now happening in the shadow of the Capitol — hard to ignore for lawmakers deciding data center policy.

REPUBLICANS DISMISS IRAN ENERGY PRICE CONCERNS — even as markets disagree...
E&E News
GOP lawmakers are downplaying the energy price implications of the Iran conflict — even as oil markets price in a risk premium and the Strait of Hormuz stays tense.

REWIRE ACT: Rare bipartisan bill would upgrade the grid without building new lines...
RTO Insider
Senators introduced the REWIRE Act to accelerate grid-enhancing technologies — tools that add capacity to existing lines without new construction. Faster, cheaper, and far less controversial than new builds.

IEA SLASHES U.S. RENEWABLES FORECAST BY 50% — policy headwinds bite...
Utility Dive
The IEA cut its estimate for US renewables capacity growth nearly in half, citing Trump administration policy headwinds. Projects in construction will set records in 2026 — the cliff comes when today's pipeline runs out.

DTE ENERGY SEEKS ANOTHER RATE HIKE — after a $242 million increase that's still fresh...
Detroit News
DTE is back for more. After a recent $242 million rate increase, the utility is preparing to file again. Michigan ratepayers are running low on patience.

GOOGLE UNMASKED: Secret data center near Duluth finally identified...
Star Tribune
Google has been behind a mysterious data center project near Duluth that locals knew nothing about. Secrecy is now standard practice for hyperscalers — communities find out after the permits are pulled.

PJM TO FERC: Tighten data center backup rules before synchronized shutdown crashes the grid...
Data Center Dynamics
PJM formally asked FERC for new behind-the-meter generation rules specifically for data centers — addressing the risk of thousands of backup generators switching on simultaneously and destabilizing the grid.

ERCOT SCRAMBLES: Data center requests overwhelm Texas grid — new connection rules incoming...
Houston Public Media
ERCOT is overhauling its large-load connection procedures after data center requests overwhelmed existing processes — all from a grid that just earned a D- for long-range planning.

TRICKED: Texas data center firm accused of deceiving Montana company in power deal...
Daily Montanan
A legal battle in Montana alleges a Texas developer misled a local company in a land and power deal gone wrong. As the data center land rush moves into new markets, the disputes are multiplying.

WIND WARS: Kansas communities fight back against the renewable energy land rush...
Topeka Capital-Journal
Western Kansas needs the tax revenue and lease payments that wind and solar bring. But residents are pushing back on noise, landscape changes, and inadequate regulations. The same dynamics that killed transmission projects for a decade are now hitting renewables.