Good morning. From the Senate to Duke's settlement table, the fight is no longer over whether data centers pay for the grid. It's over how much, and how soon.
Top Stories
SENATE DEAL WOULD MAKE DATA CENTERS PAY THEIR FULL GRID BILL
Axios
A bipartisan permitting bill would require data centers of at least 20 MW to cover the full embedded and incremental cost of electric service and financially guarantee upgrades built for them. It also expands FERC authority over interstate transmission, shortens federal reviews and preserves state power to impose special large-load rates. Senators plan to vote in the lame-duck session after the election.
VIRGINIA SAYS DATA CENTERS BROKE THE GRID'S BUSINESS MODEL
Cardinal News
Virginia's power imports rose from 18.4% in 2020 to 30.6% as data-center demand surged. The governor's energy plan says import demand will exceed physical transmission capacity by 2028 as congestion charges on Dominion bills climb.
SOUTH TEXAS DRAWS A $22 BILLION PLAN FOR GAS AND A 5-GW DATA CENTER
FOX 7 Austin
Project Star, backed by the U.S. and South Korea, would pair a 6.47-GW combined-cycle plant with a 5-GW Related Digital campus in Encinal. NextEra and Related target a 1.95-GW first phase in 2029 and full operation in 2032, with excess power flowing to ERCOT, though Seoul says financing terms are still under negotiation.
FLEXIBLE DATA CENTERS COULD SAVE UP TO $150 BILLION IN GRID COSTS
Reuters
A Duke University study estimates flexible computing loads could save $40 billion to $150 billion in capital, operating and fuel costs over a decade. EPRI found 10% to 30% peak-reduction potential, while OpenAI has agreed to cut as much as 1 GW from a planned 3.2-GW Georgia facility during grid stress.
DUKE AND BIG TECH STRIKE A DEAL ON DATA-CENTER RISK
Axios Raleigh
Duke's North Carolina settlement with Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft would require large loads to fund dedicated facilities, guarantee shared upgrades and pay for at least 75% of reserved demand under 10- or 15-year contracts. Leaving early would cost 25% of remaining bills, and state regulators still must approve the tariff.
Power & Grid
FIVE SMALL REACTORS SEEK A PLACE ON THE TEXAS GRID
The Washington Times
Blue Energy applied to ERCOT to connect up to five GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 reactors in Victoria, totaling as much as 1.5 GW for Crusoe's planned 1,600-acre AI campus. The developer calls it the nation's first commercial SMR grid request and plans to run gas turbines until the reactors arrive, targeted for 2032 after a 2027 investment decision.
EIGHT VIRGINIA COUNTIES LINE UP AGAINST A $1 BILLION POWER LINE
Cardinal News
Campbell County's 4-3 vote puts every county touched by current or earlier Valley Link routes on record against the project. The developer says the line is needed for Northern Virginia data centers and reliability, while opponents face towers up to 160 feet tall and rights-of-way 200 feet wide.
CALIFORNIA PUTS A WATCHDOG ON LATE TRANSMISSION PROJECTS
Canary Media
New legislation requires utilities and independent developers to file schedules for major transmission upgrades and empowers a new CPUC monitor to demand corrective action. Nearly 22 GW of renewable and battery projects depend on delayed lines, including 13.2 GW already late or at risk.
VIRGINIA'S LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OPPOSES THE NEXTERA-DOMINION DEAL
Utility Dive
Ghazala Hashmi says the proposed acquisition is not in Virginians' best interest as public hearings begin. The deal would create the world's largest regulated utility with 10 million customers and a 130-GW large-load pipeline, and she warns that data-center forecasts could leave households paying for stranded assets.
AN IOWA COUNTY REVERSES ITS BATTERY BAN IN FIVE MONTHS
Canary Media
Cherokee County voted 5-0 for a battery ordinance after initially blocking the technology indefinitely. The change revives a family's proposed 30-MW agrivoltaic project with a 25-MW/100-MWh battery, cattle grazing and an estimated investment above $80 million on 160 acres.
Data Centers
GEORGIA FINES A DATA CENTER FOR BUILDING ITS POWER PLANT FIRST
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Regulators fined VoltaGrid and Serverfarm a combined $42,500 after finding dozens of gas engines under construction in Covington without required permits. The companies may keep building under consent orders but must meet stricter emissions limits for the project 40 miles east of Atlanta.
VOLTUS RAISES $225 MILLION TO FIND POWER OUTSIDE THE POWER PLANT
Latitude Media
The virtual power plant provider will expand a model that lets data centers finance flexible demand and batteries in surrounding communities as part of their capacity supply. Google is its first announced customer, and Voltus plans to more than double its portfolio to 20 GW by 2030.
DATA CENTERS ANSWER THE WATER BACKLASH: FARMS USE MORE
Bloomberg Law
As Great Plains communities worry that new campuses could further drain the Ogallala Aquifer, developers are recasting data centers as less water-intensive than irrigated agriculture. The comparison lowers the industry's statewide footprint but does not settle the local question of concentrated demand on already stressed water systems.
AQUIFER FEARS KILL DATA-CENTER TALKS IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS
The Center Square
Mahomet officials ended talks with Clean Cloud Energy after residents warned that a campus could threaten an aquifer serving roughly 1 million people. The fallout sharpens a state fight between Pritzker's POWER Act, which requires closed-loop cooling and renewable generation, and a competing county-control bill.
OAKLAND JOINS THE BAY AREA DATA-CENTER FREEZE
Local News Matters
The City Council voted 7-0 for a 45-day moratorium on data-center approvals while it writes rules for environmental, infrastructure and land-use impacts. Oakland follows San Francisco's citywide pause and earlier moratoriums in Oakley, Richmond and Gilroy.
Stat of the Day
$643.9M
Dominion customers' transmission-congestion costs in the first half of 2026
The same charge was $144.6 million in all of 2021 as data-center growth pushed Virginia's import demand against a constrained grid.
Cardinal News ↗