Good morning. It's already Thursday — let's dig in. Ohio paused a data-center tax break after a billion-dollar forecasting miss, Big Tech is learning the federal power-regulation game, and NERC is now treating flexible data-center load as part of the reliability toolkit. The rest of the map is just as political: Virginia incentives, New England transmission rates, pipeline eminent domain, local transmission routes and even balcony solar are all arguments over who pays for the next layer of energy infrastructure.
Top Stories
OHIO HITS PAUSE ON DATA-CENTER TAX BREAK
Cleveland.com
Gov. Mike DeWine froze new data-center sales-tax exemptions after the incentive cost nearly $1.6 billion last year — more than eleven times what lawmakers had been told to expect.
BIG TECH LEARNS TO SPEAK FERC
E&E News
AI companies are getting fluent in federal power regulation as data-center demand turns interconnection, rates and transmission planning into core business risks.
NERC COUNTS ON CURTAILABLE DATA CENTERS
Utility Dive
The reliability watchdog says demand management and flexible data-center load can help regional grids, including ERCOT, manage summer reliability pressure.
SPANBERGER WON'T BREAK VIRGINIA DATA-CENTER DEALS
Cardinal News
Gov. Abigail Spanberger said she is open to reconsidering future data-center incentives, but not tearing up contracts the state already signed.
WARREN WANTS AI WINNINGS TAXED
The Hill
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling for tax changes aimed at AI companies, arguing the financial upside from the technology should flow beyond the firms building it.
Power & Grid
WHY NEIGHBORING GRIDS CAN'T JUST RESCUE BLACKOUTS
The Conversation
A grid-planning explainer lays out why power sharing is harder than it looks, even as western states try to coordinate reliability across larger regions.
VALLEY LINK RE-ROUTES TRANSMISSION LINE
WSET/WJLA
The Valley Link project posted a new path for a proposed 115-mile transmission line and scheduled more community meetings as route fights keep moving locally.
NEXTERA MAPS MID-ATLANTIC GRID UPGRADE
WDTV
NextEra outlined the Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link, a proposed 107.5-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission project meant to modernize the grid in West Virginia and nearby states.
NEW ENGLAND GOVERNORS FIGHT TRANSMISSION RATE HIKES
News Radio RI
New England governors are urging federal regulators to reject transmission rate increases, putting regional cost allocation back in the political spotlight.
PIPELINE LAND FIGHT HEADS TOWARD SUPREME COURT
Institute for Justice / E&E News
The U.S. Solicitor General says the Court should hear a North Dakota ranchers' eminent-domain case, while E&E frames the administration as backing the pipeline company on the merits.
Related: E&E News
Data Centers
OLD NUKES GET NEW AI MISSION
Farm and Dairy
Four nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania that had faced retirement are now tied to plans for powering artificial-intelligence data centers.
BUILDERS STILL BULLISH ON DATA-CENTER BOOM
Construction Dive
Public construction executives say data centers are still lifting backlogs and earnings, even as power constraints, cost pressure and local opposition keep building.
STUDY SAYS SOLAR BACKLASH IS LESS COMMON THAN THE NOISE
Electrek
UMass Amherst researchers found most large U.S. solar projects do not trigger major public opposition, a useful counterweight to the loudest siting fights.
BALCONY SOLAR GOES MAINSTREAM AS BILLS RISE
The Guardian
Small plug-in solar panels are gaining attention as renters and apartment dwellers look for cheaper ways to cut utility bills without owning a roof.
STATES PUSH GRID PROJECTS AS POWER DEMAND SURGES
MSN
A roundup of state-level grid projects shows transmission and reliability planning moving from background infrastructure work into a front-line response to load growth.
Stat of the Day
$1B+
Ohio's data-center tax break exceeded forecasts by more than $1 billion
Gov. Mike DeWine paused new exemptions after the sales-tax incentive blew past the cost lawmakers expected.
Cleveland.com report ↗