Two themes dominated data center coverage this week. The first is power: stories ranged from Texas and Tennessee legislative debates over who bears grid expansion costs, to PJM floating demand-response payments for data centers willing to shut off during scarcity, to utilities including NextEra and Southern Company announcing pipelines of 10 GW and 17 GW respectively to meet AI-driven load growth. Grid pressure is also reshaping cooling and storage technology, with new battery systems, ultracapacitors, cogeneration configurations, and water-free cooling all receiving attention as operators race to manage density. The second theme is policy and community resistance: moratoriums or formal restrictions were enacted or advanced in Marion County, Memphis, Rochester, Mohawk, Indianapolis, Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Denmark, and on Cherokee Nation land, while opposition actions or lawsuits were reported in King of Prussia, Nashville, Raleigh, Seattle, Baltimore, and a Michigan farming community, reflecting widening public scrutiny of where and how facilities are sited.
Stories covered this period:
- InfraTech Plans $2.7 Billion Data Center Campus in Carson County, Texas
- Five Data Centers Planned for King of Prussia, Pennsylvania Blocked
- Google's Marvell Custom Chip Deal Forces Rethink of Data Center Capital Plans
- East Tennessee Data Center Growth Reignites Debate Over Ratepayer Cost Sharing
- Large-Load Flexibility Programs Examined as Data Center Grid Pressure Mounts
- DC Blox Sues Metro Nashville Over Data Center Regulations Near Zoo
- Texas House Lawmakers Examine Data Center Power Demand and Grid Costs
- Hudson River Trading Selects CoreWeave to Power Research Infrastructure
- Bloom Launches Platform Designed to Cut Data Center Time-to-Power
- Shapiro Sets Binding GRID Requirements Targeting Pennsylvania Data Center Power Costs