Good morning. Texas has frozen data-center permits, Google is paying extra for more nuclear output in Georgia and New York just approved a $3.26 billion transmission line. The load race has reached the permits, the reactors and the wires.
Top Stories
TEXAS FREEZES DATA-CENTER PERMITS
The Texas Tribune
Greg Abbott ordered TCEQ and every other state agency to stop approving data-center permits until the ERCOT and water-board audits are done. Because on-site power plants need state permits, the freeze reaches self-powered projects the August grid pause missed, and Abbott will seek to end all data-center incentives next session.
JUDGE RESTORES $7 BILLION SOLAR PROGRAM
Utility Dive
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy vacated EPA's termination of already obligated Solar for All grants. She ruled that Congress repealed the broader fund but did not authorize EPA to cancel grants obligated by the September 2024 deadline.
DOE PICKS 21 GEOTHERMAL PROJECTS FOR $99 MILLION
U.S. Department of Energy
Five selections would test enhanced-geothermal technology at field scale and 16 would drill to characterize new resources. The projects still must complete award negotiations, and their data will be published through DOE's Geothermal Data Repository.
ARMY OPENS SIX BASES TO PRIVATE POWER
U.S. Army
Ameresco, Indelible-Bloom and Frontier Power USA received conditional lease awards covering six installations in five states. The privately financed projects may combine batteries, natural gas and nuclear generation, with development beginning as early as 2027.
FOUR COMPANIES ENTER DOE'S NUCLEAR LAUNCH PAD
American Nuclear Society
DOE selected Deployable Energy, General Matter, NuCube Energy and Radiant Industries for technical, regulatory and deployment support. Their work spans a 1-MWe transportable reactor, a 15-MW solid-state reactor, uranium enrichment and a TRISO-fueled test at Idaho National Laboratory.
Power & Grid
NEW YORK CLEARS $3.26 BILLION TRANSMISSION LINE
Utility Dive
Propel NY will run 90 miles through Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, the Bronx and Westchester using 138-kV and 345-kV underground lines. Regulators kept the 2030 project alive despite offshore-wind cancellations, citing reliability and 1,800 MW already operating or under construction.
TEXAS SOFTENS LARGE-LOAD GRID RULES
Utility Dive
The final rule sets a flat $100,000 interconnection-study fee and drops the proposed $50,000-per-MW nonrefundable charge. It also gives projects 24 months after missed energization milestones before ERCOT is notified, up from six months in the proposal.
NEVADA CLEARS 362 MW OF TEMPORARY GAS
ConstructConnect
Regulators conditionally approved 144 MW at South Valley and 218 MW at Peru Ridge near the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center. The plants would bridge a two-to-three-year wait for NV Energy service but still need environmental and Storey County approvals.
GRIDSTOR LANDS $220 MILLION FOR ARIZONA BATTERY
ABF Journal
ING, KeyBank and Zions financed the 100-MW, 400-MWh White Tank project in Maricopa County. The battery is due online in the first half of 2027 under a 20-year tolling agreement with Arizona Public Service.
WYOMING REVIVES POWER COMPETITION BILL
Cowboy State Daily
Sen. Chris Rothfuss wants independent suppliers to serve large customers if the incumbent utility cannot commit within a year. An earlier version for loads above 25 MW died on a 4-4 House-side committee vote; Rocky Mountain Power warns that bypass arrangements could strand costs.
Data Centers
GOOGLE PAYS UP FOR 96 MW OF NUCLEAR
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Google will pay a premium for output added through upgrades at Vogtle Units 1 and 2 and Hatch Units 1 and 2. Georgia Power expects roughly 96 MW of new capacity and projects about $900 million in benefits for other customers over the agreements' life.
CALIFORNIA SIGNS SEVEN DATA-CENTER LAWS
State of California
The package requires electricity and water disclosures, assigns grid and water upgrades to developers and limits blanket environmental exemptions. It also requires new clean-energy supply and bars data-center costs from shifting to low-income customers.
OPENAI'S 3.2-GW CAMPUS FACES LAWSUIT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Southern Environmental Law Center says Effingham County officials violated open-records and open-meetings laws while negotiating the 4-million-square-foot campus near Rincon. AJC says the project would use roughly 3.2 GW, more than Georgia's other data centers combined.
LOCAL OPPOSITION STOPS $68 BILLION IN PROJECTS
Tom's Hardware
A Data Center Watch tally says 45 projects worth $68 billion were blocked during the second quarter. The same analysis still puts long-range data-center investment on course to reach $32 trillion by 2050.
WISCONSIN DATA-CENTER OPPOSITION HITS 78%
The American Prospect
Marquette polling found the share of voters saying costs outweigh benefits rose from 55% last October to 70% in February and 78% in August. Tom Tiffany and David Crowley now both support local vetoes, ratepayer protections and limits on nondisclosure agreements.
Stat of the Day
75 MW
The smallest data center ERCOT said August's pause could stop
Monday's order routes every state permit through the audit, closing the gap for smaller and self-powered projects.
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