Good morning. AEP is spending $4 billion on fuel cells to power Google in Wyoming as AI's power race collides with grid limits, climate plans and local opposition.
Top Stories
AEP PUTS $4 BILLION BEHIND GOOGLE'S WYOMING POWER PLAN
Reuters
AEP plans a 702-MW Bloom Energy fuel-cell plant near Cheyenne under a 20-year power agreement with Google, which is now confirmed as the buyer AEP had left unnamed when it announced the deal in January.
THREE DATA CENTERS COULD ERASE TWO STATES' CLIMATE GAINS
ProPublica
Oracle, Meta and Fort Bliss are building or planning three border-region campuses with roughly 6.45 GW of on-site power. The Oracle and Meta plants alone could emit up to 10 million tons of greenhouse gases a year, more than El Paso and Hudspeth counties emitted in 2019.
SOLAR'S NEW PAC PLANS $15 MILLION IN HARDBALL ATTACKS
WIRED
The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition is targeting seven renewable-energy opponents after spending about $5 million in primaries, often attacking Republicans from the right without mentioning solar. Other advocates are pitching domestic solar as essential to powering AI and competing with China.
INTERIOR TRIES AGAIN TO UNWIND REVOLUTION WIND'S PERMIT
Hartford Courant
The department asked a federal court to let it reconsider the 704-MW project's construction approval even though all 65 turbines are installed and full output is due this year. The judge has twice blocked earlier Trump administration efforts to stop work.
GOOGLE DRAWS A NEW MAP AROUND IOWA'S DATA CENTER RULES
Politico
Google wants Palo to annex its proposed six-building, 545-acre campus rather than keep it under Linn County's new ordinance. County officials say the move would bypass water disclosure, full taxation, light and noise rules while ending Google's pledged $500,000 regional water study.
Power & Grid
PG&E WARNS WILDFIRE SHUTOFFS COULD REACH 29 COUNTIES
Utility Dive
Hot, dry offshore winds could force another round of public-safety outages from the evening of Oct. 14 through Oct. 17. California's grid weathered the recent heat wave without a Flex Alert, but PG&E's earlier shutoffs affected up to 12,200 customers.
HOME BATTERIES DELIVER A RECORD 745 MW TO CALIFORNIA
Electrek
Sunrun and Tesla dispatched residential batteries during the October heat wave, delivering 669 MW on Oct. 5 and 745 MW the next evening. The second event beat September's 580-MW record and supplied enough peak power for every home in San Francisco and San Jose.
AMERICA NEEDS 5,000 MILES OF NEW POWER LINES A YEAR
Popular Mechanics
The U.S. may need to build 5,000 miles of transmission annually through 2050, but its last 5,000 miles took nine years. A new bipartisan bill would expand federal authority over major interstate lines and require data centers to cover their transmission costs.
WISCONSIN POWER-LINE OPPONENTS WIN 25 COMMITMENTS
Civic Media
Opponents of the MariBell and BECI 765-kV lines say 25 lawmakers agreed to at least one request for hearings, a review of Wisconsin's siting laws or scrutiny of MISO's regional plan. The commitments do not mean all 25 oppose the projects.
A GEORGIA CO-OP TURNS 2,500 HOMES INTO A 50-MW BATTERY
pv magazine USA
Central Georgia EMC will let members host Base Power batteries for a one-time $95 fee with no monthly charge. The 100-MWh fleet will provide whole-home backup and 50 MW of dispatchable capacity, with the first installations planned for 2027.
Data Centers
UTAH COAL COUNTRY RESISTS A NUCLEAR DATA CENTER BOOM
Canary Media
Residents are pushing back on Valar's 9.6-GW nuclear complex and Altigen's separate 1,200-acre campus, which could grow from a 250-MW gas plant to 3 GW. Water, heat, secrecy and the region's history with nuclear fallout are driving opposition.
GOOGLE'S AI AMBITIONS HIT THE GRID BOTTLENECK
Politico
Google is offering utilities flexible data-center loads in exchange for faster connections as new power projects bog down. Five contracts across the South and Midwest can now curtail roughly 1 GW of demand when local grids tighten.
AI'S MONEY CIRCLES BACK TO THE COMPANIES SPENDING IT
The Conversation
A BIS analysis found 55.2% of investment into AI firms came from other AI companies, sharpening questions about circular financing. Nvidia invests in data-center builders and model developers that use the money to buy its chips, concentrating risk across the same firms.
GAS PRICES PUSH INFLATION BACK TO 3.7%
Axios
Consumer prices rose 0.6% in September as gasoline jumped 9.1% for the month and 34.2% from a year earlier. Gas accounted for more than half of the monthly CPI increase, while the broader energy index climbed 5.2%.
ORACLE OFFERS NEW MEXICO RATEPAYERS AT LEAST $155 MILLION
Las Cruces Sun-News
Oracle proposed paying El Paso Electric $10 million annually for 10 years even if Project Jupiter uses less than contracted, plus as much as $55 million a year in direct customer credits for three years. The grid would provide commissioning, emergency and safety power while Bloom fuel cells remain the campus's main source.
Stat of the Day
$2.65 BILLION
What AEP agreed in January to pay Bloom Energy for the Cheyenne fuel cells
AEP exercised its full Bloom option months before Google was named as the plant's buyer.
Reuters ↗