Good morning. Texas is staring at 438 gigawatts of large-load requests and trying to sort the first batch before the queue eats the planning process. That is the grid story in miniature: AI load is arriving faster than regulators can name the rules, while states are testing taxes, incentives, siting fights and old-fashioned campaign pressure.
Top Stories
TEXAS FACES 438 GW LARGE-LOAD QUEUE
Utility Dive
ERCOT is trying to impose order on an AI-era load rush big enough to overwhelm normal interconnection planning.
DATA CENTER BACKLASH HITS UTAH PRIMARY
Semafor
Local data-center fights are no longer just zoning disputes; they are becoming litmus tests inside pro-growth political coalitions.
SOLAR LOBBY SEES TRUMP-ERA OPENING
Semafor
The industry's pitch is shifting from climate virtue to cheap, fast capacity, which is a cleaner argument in a power-hungry grid.
VIRGINIA DATA CENTER TAX BECOMES TEST CASE
Newsweek
Virginia is trying to tax data-center load directly without fully undoing the incentive structure that made Northern Virginia the world's biggest market.
NEW JERSEY FREEZES AI DATA-CENTER INCENTIVES
NJ.com
The backlash is now hitting the subsidy layer, where states tried to attract AI infrastructure before fully pricing the power, water and land-use politics.
Power & Grid
BLM ADVANCES MASSIVE NEVADA SOLAR PROJECT
Nevada Current
Federal land decisions remain one of the biggest practical gates for western solar, where permitting determines whether cheap capacity reaches the queue.
VIRGINIA GROUPS PUSH UTILITY MERGER GUARDRAILS
Augusta Free Press
If Dominion is sold, the fight will also be over whether Virginia regulators have enough leverage over a utility at the center of the data-center power boom.
U.S. MOVES TO CUT FEDERAL DRILLING COSTS
Reuters
The administration is trying to lower producer costs on public lands while the power sector is hunting for faster fuel-backed capacity.
VERMONT RENEWABLE SITING BILL HITS VETO
WCAX
Even in renewables-friendly states, the hard part is no longer just wanting clean power; it is deciding where projects can expand and who gets a say.
SUPREME COURT CLIMATE FIGHT ENTERS COLORADO AG RACE
E&E News / Politico Pro
Climate litigation is becoming campaign material, not just courtroom strategy, as state attorneys general become central players in energy policy.
Data Centers
COMMUNITIES FILL DATA-CENTER INFORMATION VACUUM
Louisiana Illuminator
Local opposition often starts less with ideology than with missing facts: power draw, water use, taxes, noise and who is accountable if projections are wrong.
FERC BUYS TIME ON DATA-CENTER JURISDICTION FIGHT
Bloomberg Law
The commission is not settling the large-load cost fight yet; it is forcing grid operators to build a procedural record before the lawsuits get sharper.
DATA CENTERS COULD LOWER BILLS, NOT RAISE THEM
American Enterprise Institute
The ratepayer fight depends on whether data centers pay for the upgrades they trigger or simply add enough demand to better use fixed-cost infrastructure.
THE ELECTROSTATE COMES INTO VIEW
Forbes
As the economy electrifies, energy security starts looking less like barrels and pipelines and more like transformers, transmission, batteries and dispatchable load.
TIN GETS AI DATA-CENTER BOOST
Forbes
The AI buildout is usually framed around chips and power, but the materials chain underneath it can produce its own bottlenecks and price stories.
Stat of the Day
~90%
Share of ERCOT's large-load queue that is data centers
The backlog is now roughly five times the Texas grid's record summer peak, which is why regulators just voted to study it in batches.
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