Data Centers
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Data Centers
Boost Profits & Reliability by Migrating and Integrating Critical Process Data
Sponsored by:dataPARCProcess manufacturers and power producers are feeling the pressure of tight margins and increasing economic uncertainty. The data tools that engineers and plant operators have relied on for years are rapidly evolving, prompting many to consider how and when to migrate to a new data management platform that enables a more efficient and seamless integration […]
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Data Centers
Power, Proximity, Policy: The Legal Landscape of Siting Data Centers Near Natural Gas Resources
The explosive growth of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and enterprise data storage has transformed data centers into the critical infrastructure of the digital economy. Yet their extraordinary and continuous electricity demands—often exceeding 100 megawatts per site—have made energy access and reliability the single most consequential factor in determining where these facilities are built. Across the […]
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Commentary
Frugal AI’s Energy Reckoning: Why Efficiency Isn’t Enough
The story of artificial intelligence (AI) is often told in the language of speed and efficiency. Every quarter brings claims of models that run faster and cost less. Yet behind the glossy benchmarks lies a more sobering truth: the appetite for AI is growing so quickly that even the most impressive efficiency gains cannot keep […]
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Data Centers
Power Quality in the AI Era: Solving for Subharmonics
Data center operators are keenly aware that securing access to the grid is job number one on their to-do list. But the extraordinary demand placed on the grid by artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) has another concern rapidly ascending the list: power quality. While data centers running traditional workloads have largely solved for […]
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Commentary
Energy Sector Teaching AI How to Grow Up
When artificial intelligence (AI) manages a power grid, it cannot operate as a black box. A wrong decision will not just frustrate users, it will trigger a blackout. This critical nature of AI deployments in energy is forcing AI to mature faster in energy than in any other sector. When algorithmic decisions affect high-stakes systems […]
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Data Centers
Data Centers Are Turning to Gas Generators for Prime Power to Eliminate Long Lead Times for Grid Connections
Backup generators are gaining a new lease on life in data centers. For decades, they have been a rarely used part of the infrastructure, existing for those moments when other power sources fail. But their profile is shifting due to the chronic shortage of available power across North America. Data center developers have grown impatient […]
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Solar
ENGIE, Meta Expand PPAs with New 600-MW Solar Project
ENGIE North America said it has entered into additional power purchase agreements (PPAs) with technology group Meta that will increase the overall scale of the commercial relationship between the two companies to more than 1.3 GW across four Texas projects.
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Data Centers
INNIO, VoltaGrid Partner on 2.3-GW Data Center Project
Austria-headquartered INNIO Group said the company has received the largest equipment order by power delivery in its history. The company on October 21 said it has a deal with VoltaGrid for a 2.3-GW power infrastructure project featuring 92 of INNIO’s power packs, each with 25 MW of generation capacity.
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T&D
AI’s Growing Appetite: What the Grid Needs to Keep Up
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t just transforming industries; it is also transforming the energy grid. Behind every AI breakthrough lies a massive surge in computing power, and with it, an unprecedented demand for reliable and affordable electricity. As the U.S. positions itself for continued technological leadership, meeting the energy needs of AI data […]
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Data Centers
Google Commits to First U.S. Gas-Fired Power Plant with Integrated CCS for Data Centers
Google has signed a first-of-its-kind corporate offtake agreement to purchase power from a new 400-MW natural gas–fired cogeneration plant outfitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Decatur, Illinois. In an Oct. 23 blog post, Michael Terrell, head of Google’s Advanced Energy division, unveiled the corporate agreement that will allow the hyperscaler to purchase power […]
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Commentary
Bridging the AI Gap for Energy Utilities
The energy industry is in a bit of a technological whirlwind. Climate-related disruption and shifting adaptation requirements inject alarming levels of uncertainty into traditional business models, while a surge in amazing engineering breakthroughs and innovations simultaneously present irresistible opportunities for enhanced efficacy and resilience.
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Data Centers
Aligned, Calibrant Deploy Battery Storage to Support Data Centers
Aligned Data Centers and Calibrant Energy have announced what the companies call a first-of-its-kind energy solution to address one of the data center industry’s most urgent constraints: access to grid power.
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Data Centers
The Evolution of Data Center Cooling: From Water to Emerging Technologies
Data centers are the backbone of the digital age, housing the servers and networking equipment that power everything from cloud computing to streaming services. As these facilities grow in size and complexity, so does the challenge of keeping them cool.
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Legal & Regulatory
Advocating for Public Power Companies: LPPC Focuses on Load Growth, FEMA Reform, and Tax-Exempt Bonds
Public power utilities are community-owned, not-for-profit electric utilities that deliver reliable, low-cost electricity to about 2,000 communities serving more than 55 million Americans. Among the cities served by public power utilities are Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; Los Angeles, California; Jacksonville, Florida; and Seattle, Washington. The Large Public Power Council (LPPC) is the voice of large […]
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Data Centers
Oracle Taps VoltaGrid for 2.3-GW Modular Gas Fleet to Power AI Data Centers Across Texas
Texas-based rapid-deployment power specialist VoltaGrid will deploy 2,300 MW of modular, ultra-low-emissions natural gas generation to support Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s (OCI’s) artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, backed by firm fuel from Energy Transfer’s 140,000-mile pipeline and storage network. Under the collaboration announced Oct. 15, VoltaGrid said its proprietary modular platform—featuring INNIO Jenbacher reciprocating engines and […]
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Commentary
Energy: The Most Critical 7% of America’s GDP
The true engine of America’s economy might surprise you. It’s not tech. It’s not artificial intelligence, finance, or manufacturing. It’s energy. Energy accounts for just 7% of America’s gross domestic product (GDP), but, as former FERC Chair Mark Christie put it, “it’s the foundational 7% … everything else in our economy and lifestyle flows from it.”
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Finance
Investor-Owned Utilities to Spend $1.1T in Grid Boost as Power Demand Spirals
America’s investor-owned electric companies are poised to deploy record-setting investment to launch one of the most aggressive infrastructure modernization campaigns in industry history in a bid to confront unprecedented electricity demand growth and prepare for a fundamentally transformed energy landscape. In total, over the next five years, the industry is poised to invest more than […]
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Engineering
Mining Our Nation’s Scrap to Transform Our Electric Grid
Today’s demand for energy is extraordinary and expected to continue rising. The rapid growth of data centers, reshoring manufacturing operations and electrification of transportation has accelerated the market demands for electricity. Rethinking how industries use, and re-use materials is central to both the future of the electrified world and the work of Nucor, North America’s […]
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Commentary
AI’s Energy Hunger Demands an All-of-the-Above Strategy
Here’s a fundamental truth: there is no AI without energy. And as the technology grows, its demand for energy, and carbon footprint, may never again be as small as it is today. Against this backdrop, debates over which energy source should power AI miss the point. AI’s appetite for energy—relative to what the grid has […]
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Data Centers
Entergy Will Power $4-Billion Google Data Center in Arkansas
Google announced the first phase of a $4-billion data center project in West Memphis, Arkansas, an initiative that state officials have called one of the largest economic investments in state history. The facility, located near the Arkansas-Tennessee state line, will be powered by Entergy using solar power and existing generation in the area.
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Electrification
Miss Kitty: A Western Gas Power Answer to Texas Grid Bottlenecks
Like its Gunsmoke namesake, Miss Kitty—a Plains, Texas behind-the-meter microgrid project—is tough, pragmatic, and distinctly Western. Faced with a hard ceiling on utility power and years-long waits in the
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Data Centers
LandBridge and NRG Strike 1.1-GW Gas-Fired Deal to Power Delaware Basin Data Center in Texas
LandBridge Co., a Permian-focused land and infrastructure firm with 277,000 surface acres in the Delaware sub-region in Texas, and NRG Energy, one of the U.S.’s largest independent power producers, have inked a strategic agreement for a potential 1,100 MW natural gas–fired generation facility in Reeves County, Texas, to power a hyperscale data center. The agreement, […]
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Commentary
Powering AI: From CERA Week Optimism to New York Climate Week Realism
This week, the energy world convenes in New York for the United Nations Climate Week. The gathering will encompass the most vital sectors of the U.S. economy at present—technology firms and utilities will be well-represented, along with a host of consultants, suppliers, experts, and academics, who consistently attend these events. UN Climate Week mirrors another […]
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Trends
Soluna Breaks Ground on 166-MW Texas Wind-Powered Data Center for Crypto and AI
Soluna Holdings, a developer of data centers powered by renewables, is set to break ground on Project Kati, a 166-MW wind-powered data center campus poised to support Bitcoin hosting and the rapidly growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. The project, a partnership with EDF Renewables, Masdar, and Spring Lane Capital, […]
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Trends
Why Power Plants Need AI That Engineers Can Trust
America’s power producers face growing pressure to do more with less. A rapidly evolving grid, increasing demand, aging infrastructure, and policy uncertainty have created a system where traditional approaches to reliability are no longer enough. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) recently issued its 2025 RISC report, highlighting the leading risks facing America’s power […]
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Legal & Regulatory
EPA Streamlines Preconstruction Permitting to Accelerate Power Plants, Data Centers, and Manufacturing Reshoring
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued new guidance under its New Source Review (NSR) preconstruction permitting program that could allow power plant developers to begin certain non-emissions‐related site work—such as installing concrete pads, grading, and utility trenching—before obtaining a Clean Air Act construction permit. The change, described in a sparse set of paragraphs […]
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Data Centers
Eaton Offers Solution to Detect AI-Related Load Spikes for Power
Intelligent power management company Eaton said it has launched technology for identifying large fluctuations in energy demand from artificial intelligence (AI) computing infrastructure. The edge-based solution, available via a firmware update for its Eaton Power Xpert quality (PXQ) event analysis system, helps detect AI power bursts, including potential subsynchronous oscillations (SSO) in data centers. The […]
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data centers
NRC Accepts COLA for Fermi America’s Behemoth Four-Unit AP1000 Nuclear Plant in Texas
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has accepted for review initial portions of a combined license application (COLA) from Dallas-based Fermi America to build and operate four Westinghouse AP1000 reactors in Carson County, Texas. The proposed project—which will be called the “President Donald J. Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus” (also known as Project Matador)—is slated […]
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Energy Storage
Preparing Energy Storage Technology to Support Data Center Power Demands
The increasing power demands of data centers are adding urgency to grid resiliency and renewable energy projects. Data center electricity use is expected to grow 300% by 2035 as hyperscale cloud computing companies race to adopt new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). Renewable energy and microgrid solutions will play an essential role in the digitalized and electrified future.
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Top Plant
Geothermal Breakthrough in South Texas Signals New Era for ERCOT
In just 12 months, Sage Geosystems and San Miguel Electric Cooperative built the world’s first pressure geothermal system. It is now poised to deliver long-duration, dispatchable storage for the Electric