The Daily Mine — Wednesday, March 4, 2026

BIG TECH SIGNS RATEPAYER PLEDGE at White House — but can they keep it?...
Reuters
Google, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI, and Amazon pledge to shield consumers from AI power costs. Timed ahead of midterms, with voters furious about energy affordability. The question: is this policy or theater?

BOMBS OVER IRAN threaten to spike the bills Big Tech just pledged to protect...
Politico
Market jitters from Trump's attack on Iran are overshadowing today's signing ceremony. Rising natural gas prices from Middle East disruption could increase electricity costs — exactly what the pledge is supposed to prevent. Democrats are already sharpening the issue for midterms.

POWER GRAB: Midwest utilities want FERC to END competitive bidding...
E&E News
Xcel Energy, Ameren, ATC, and ITC are pressing FERC and Trump's National Energy Dominance Council to suspend Order 1000 competitive bidding for high-voltage lines. They argue AI electricity demand requires faster builds — critics call it a monopoly power grab.

$33 BILLION: BlackRock swallows AES in biggest energy takeover...
Reuters
A consortium led by BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners and Swedish PE firm EQT agreed to buy AES Corp at $15/share — $33.4 billion including debt. One of the largest energy acquisitions ever. AES owns utilities, renewables, and storage across the Americas.

THE SHADOW GRID: Big Tech building private power plants outside utility oversight...
Wall Street Journal
Dozens of off-grid data center projects are planned across Texas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, and Ohio. Tech companies are building private natural gas plants to sidestep strained grids — with no obligation to serve during emergencies and no clean energy mandates.

BREAK UP THE MONOPOLIES: Missouri bill would let consumers shop for power...
Missouri Independent
New legislation would let Missouri consumers shop for electricity providers — ending the monopoly utility model. The bill hasn't received a hearing yet, but the fact it was filed signals growing frustration with rate hikes and utility market power.

COAL RUNS HARDER — but nobody's investing a dime...
Wall Street Journal
Coal generation is up as grid demand surges, but no one is putting new money into coal capacity. Utilities and investors see a dead end — even as existing plants run harder than they have in years.

NEXTERA EYES 30 GW for data centers by 2035 — enough to power California...
Reuters
The largest U.S. electricity company is projecting a massive data center build-out. Its 20+ GW pipeline is overwhelmingly natural gas. Thirty gigawatts is enough to power about 22 million homes — more than every residence in California.

GEORGIA DRAWS THE LINE: Bill would block data center rate hikes...
Data Center Dynamics
Georgia legislators are considering protections to ensure residential ratepayers don't absorb the grid costs of data center expansion — a legislative model other states are watching closely.

JAPAN-US NUCLEAR PACT: $100B deal takes shape in massive investment package...
Reuters
Japan and the U.S. are aiming to add a nuclear power project to a $550 billion bilateral investment package. The deal could reshape the SMR pipeline and deepen nuclear cooperation between the two largest nuclear-capable allies.

MORATORIUM WAVE: States slam brakes on data center expansion...
Engineering News-Record
More states are following municipalities in blocking or restricting data center expansion — claiming they need time to hear from constituents, power authorities, and environmental agencies before deciding whether and how to approve them.

REVOLT IN RURAL PA: Communities organize against hyperscale invasion...
Inside Climate News
Gov. Shapiro says data centers must bring their own power, be transparent with communities, and hire local workers. Grassroots groups across rural Pennsylvania are organizing to stop or delay hyperscale projects — driven by concerns over electricity demand, water use, and diesel backup generators.

FACE TO FACE: Microsoft meets angry Grand Rapids residents for first time...
MLive
Microsoft hosted its first open house for a planned 316-acre, seven-building data center campus in Gaines Township — built on land bought from Steelcase for $45.3 million. Residents are pushing back on power and water demands from hyperscale AI facilities.

$6.6B TAX BREAK: Independence, MO approves 800MW Nebius AI data center...
Kansas City Star
Independence City Council voted to approve $150 billion in industrial revenue bonds and a 20-year tax abatement for Nebius, a Dutch AI firm planning an 800MW hyperscale facility. Standing room only at the council meeting — residents fought it, the vote passed anyway.

SIX NUCLEAR PLANTS: What Michigan needs just to feed its data center pipeline...
Planet Detroit
DTE Energy's data center pipeline in Michigan would require the equivalent of six nuclear power plants to serve. The utility is quantifying what the AI boom actually means for the grid — and the numbers are staggering.