Good morning. The power fight has moved from forecasts to invoices and front yards. TVA put a price on the data-center rush, a federal court let survey crews onto Maryland land and Duke answered a 10-GW winter surge with nearly every resource on the shelf.
Top Stories
COURT LETS PSEG SURVEY MARYLAND LAND BEFORE ITS LINE IS APPROVED
WYPR
The Fourth Circuit upheld access to hundreds of properties along the 70-mile Piedmont route, finding that surveys are not an immediate taking and delay threatens a PJM-mandated project. Opponents call the line an extension cord for Northern Virginia data centers.
TVA PUTS A PRICE ON EVERY NEW DATA-CENTER MEGAWATT
Memphis Commercial Appeal
The board approved a dedicated data-center rate class effective October 1, moving the sector off manufacturing rates and raising its all-in bills roughly 10% over three years. New and expanded loads above 5 MW take on a separate capacity charge.
DUKE ANSWERS A 10-GW WINTER SURGE WITH EVERYTHING
Utility Dive
The Carolinas plan calls for 18.5 GW of solar, 14 GW of gas, 13 GW of storage and about 4.5 GW of new nuclear through 2041. Duke also wants 80-year licenses for its existing reactors as winter peak demand climbs roughly 30%.
SPACEX VETERANS BET $400 MILLION OF FAILED NUCLEAR WORK IS A HEAD START
The Washington Post
Applied Atomics licensed BWXT's abandoned mPower design after roughly $400 million had already gone into the failed project. It wants to factory-build 195-MW reactors for data centers, but even its optimistic schedule puts commercial operation five years away.
WHITE HOUSE OIL AIDE HELPED SABLE, THEN TOOK ITS JOB
POLITICO
Brittany Kelm helped the company advance its effort to restart production off California while serving as the White House oil liaison. She has now left government to lead Sable Offshore's Washington office.
Power & Grid
FERC LETS SPP MOVE POWER BY REWIRING THE MAP
Utility Dive
Topology optimization changes breaker configurations before operators pay generators to redispatch. A historical study says it could eliminate 75% of studied constraints and save $18 million to $44 million a year against SPP's $1.6 billion average congestion bill.
CLEAN POWER BUILT 90% OF AMERICA'S FIRST-HALF CAPACITY
Canary Media
Solar, batteries and wind supplied 90% of capacity completed in the first half despite Washington's policy reversal. Separately, EIA's full-year forecast reaches a record 86 GW: 51% solar, 28% storage, 14% wind and 7% gas.
COLORADO CUTS XCEL'S ASK IN HALF AND STILL ADDS $5 A MONTH
CPR News
Regulators approved a $157 million electric-rate increase, raising the average residential bill from $104.91 to $109.92 on August 29. Xcel originally sought roughly $356 million to $365 million before backing a $225 million settlement.
MICHIGAN SPENDS $7.5 MILLION HUNTING HYDROGEN UNDERGROUND
MLive
The state will fund mapping, research and test wells around geology the USGS considers promising for naturally occurring hydrogen. The money turns Whitmer's January initiative into an exploration program, but commercial volumes and economics remain unproven.
EAST TEXAS LITHIUM IS MOVING FASTER THAN THE RULEBOOK
The Texas Tribune
Companies are preparing to tap the Smackover Formation before Texas settles who owns lithium-bearing brine, how royalties work and who controls the water. Regulators and lawmakers may not finish the framework until the 2027 session.
Data Centers
MICHIGAN GOP SENATE NOMINEE CALLS FOR A DATA-CENTER PAUSE
The Hill
Mike Rogers wants a one-year moratorium, putting a Republican in a competitive statewide race against the infrastructure behind the White House AI agenda. The issue has moved from local zoning rooms into the midterms.
NEW HAMPSHIRE'S GOVERNOR FLIPS TO A DATA-CENTER MORATORIUM
Portsmouth Herald
Kelly Ayotte now backs a statewide pause after previously resisting one, citing electricity costs, grid capacity and environmental impacts. Another governor has decided the political risk of slowing the buildout is smaller than the risk of defending it.
LOCAL DATA-CENTER OPPOSITION JUMPS 12 POINTS
Newsweek
Annenberg found 61% of Americans oppose new facilities nearby, up from 49% in early spring. The resistance spans 69% of Democrats, 54% of Republicans and 53% of independents as campaigns turn power bills and water use into attack ads.
ERCOT GIVES ABBOTT'S DATA-CENTER AUDIT A DECEMBER DEADLINE
Houston Public Media
The review covers roughly 250 to 300 paused Batch Zero projects and expands to 157 medium-sized users seeking 25 MW to 75 MW. ERCOT will also collect community-impact data before deciding which speculative loads belong in its forecasts.
CO-OPS SAY THE GAS RULE CANNOT SURVIVE THE AI LOAD
Utility Dive
Rural utilities want EPA's 2024 power-plant rule repealed, arguing its efficiency and carbon-capture requirements block gas generation for data centers running at 95% to 100% load factors. EPA's repeal proposal has sat at OMB beyond its 90-day review deadline.
Stat of the Day
$1.5M
TVA's capacity charge per incremental data-center megawatt
Approved alongside a resource plan calling for 11 to 32 GW of new capacity by 2040, and framed by TVA as delivering on the ratepayer pledge it signed this summer.
Memphis Commercial Appeal ↗