The Daily Mine — Sunday, March 29, 2026

DOE BROKERS 10 GW GAS DEAL ON OHIO NUCLEAR SITE
US Department of Energy
A DOE, SoftBank, and AEP Ohio partnership will redevelop the Portsmouth Site in Pike County into a 10 GW data center campus backed by dedicated new natural gas generation.

WHITE HOUSE GETS HYPERSCALERS TO SIGN RATE PLEDGE
White House
A Trump proclamation has leading hyperscalers pledging that AI data center energy needs won't raise household electricity rates, with companies committing to build or buy their own dedicated generation.

NVIDIA MAKES DATA CENTERS INTO GRID ASSETS
NVIDIA Newsroom
NVIDIA and Emerald AI partnered with AES, Constellation, Invenergy, NextEra, Nscale, and Vistra to build AI facilities that act as dispatchable grid assets rather than pure load.

DOE LAUNCHES 1.9 BILLION TO MODERNIZE TRANSMISSION
Perkins Coie / DOE
The DOE's SPARK program opened a $1.9 billion funding opportunity targeting rapid transmission capacity upgrades, with concept papers due April 2.

US ARMY OPENS MILITARY LAND TO HYPERSCALE DATA CENTERS
US Army
The Army signed a conditional deal with private industry to host hyperscale data centers on military installations, designating AI infrastructure as a strategic national asset.

FERC ORDERS 900 MILLION IN NEW ENGLAND REFUNDS
Utility Dive
FERC cut New England transmission owners' return on equity from 10.57% to 9.57%, triggering roughly $900M in ratepayer refunds and more than $100M in ongoing annual savings.

EIA: RECORD 86 GW OF NEW US CAPACITY COMING IN 2026
Electrek
Solar leads at 51% of planned additions, with battery storage at 28% and wind at 14%, as developers race to meet surging AI-driven electricity demand.

BAKER HUGHES BUILDS AI POWER TOOLS FOR DATA CENTERS
Baker Hughes Investor Relations
Baker Hughes and Google Cloud announced a collaboration to build AI-enabled power optimization tools for data centers, with oilfield services now chasing the hyperscale efficiency market.

BLACKSTONE BUYS PNM TO MODERNIZE NEW MEXICO GRID
National Today
Blackstone's acquisition of PNM, New Mexico's largest electric utility, received regulatory approval with commitments including $105 million in customer rate credits and $25 million for clean technology.

WEST VIRGINIA ENACTS LONG-TERM ALL-OF-ABOVE ENERGY PLAN
The Intelligencer
West Virginia's new Comprehensive Energy Policy and Development Plan Act directs the Office of Energy to build a long-term strategy through 2050 covering coal, gas, nuclear, and alternatives for grid stability.

CRUSOE ADDS 900 MW TO MICROSOFT ABILENE AI CAMPUS
Crusoe AI
Crusoe revealed a 900 MW expansion in Abilene, Texas, with two new buildings and an onsite power plant, pushing the site's total projected capacity to 2.1 GW for Microsoft's AI infrastructure.

NC RESIDENTS SUE OVER 2,000-ACRE DATA CENTER REZONING
NC Health News
Residents and the Southern Environmental Law Center filed suit over Stokes County's rezoning of nearly 2,000 acres along the Dan River for Project Delta, a massive AI data center on historic Black farmland.

100 NEW JERSEY RESIDENTS PROTEST 350 MW AI DATA CENTER
WHYY
About 100 Vineland, NJ residents rallied against a planned 350 MW AI data center, citing noise, emissions, electricity costs, and asthma risks in a South Jersey agricultural community.

IMPERIAL COUNTY SHOWDOWN: CHANTS, LAWSUIT, LEGAL FIGHT
Calexico Chronicle
Residents packed the Imperial County Board meeting chanting "no data centers" while the City of Imperial filed suit challenging the county's environmental review exemption for a 950,000 sq ft project.

CHESTER COUNTY PA TOWNS FORM BLOC AGAINST NEARBY DATA CENTERS
Philadelphia Inquirer
Chester County, PA municipalities are coordinating strategies to block data centers even when projects are proposed in adjacent jurisdictions, a new escalation in organized local opposition.