Energy & Water

Moving on from data centers in space, and moving to offshore data centers. “Offshore wind developer Aikido is planning to submerge a 100-kilowatt demonstration data center off the coast of Norway this year. ‘

Tech Crunch | Who needs data centers in space when they can float offshore

DYI or plug-in solar legislation is making its way through 28 states. “Only deep-red Utah has a law, passed in March 2025, that explicitly allows residents to plug in these devices.” In most states current laws are very unclear on plug-in solar.

Canary Media | Balcony solar is taking state legislatures by storm

Bloomberg Philanthropies 2025 Mayors Challenge awarded $1 million to a project in Boise, Idaho that will use geothermal energy for affordable housing. 

The project is 300 apartments in an area adjacent to Boise State University that will use geothermal enrgy for heating. It is expected to significantly lower tenant energy costs. 

Governing | Boise Wins $1 Million Prize for Using Geothermal Energy to Heat Affordable Housing

The Dallas Federal Reserve analyzes the impact of shifting federal policy on EVs indicates an opportunity for US battery storage manufacturing. 

There had been an estimated $50 B investment in EV battery manufacturing in the U.S. before federal policy changes.

Electricity demand is increasing, battery storage is within the Big Beautiful Bill, and manufacturing facilities have announced their switch from EV batteries to energy storage batteries.

Data nerds: the link has investment and manufacturing data, charts, & graphs.

A Florida “ bill would require tech companies to pay for all utilities they use, restrict where data centers can be built and ban non-disclosure agreements between companies and local governments.”

WCTV | Florida lawmakers move to shield residents from AI data center electricity costs

Fox Business says that in the last year electric rates have increased 6.3% . They go further and explain that electric rate increases outpace the 2.4% inflation rate. Their source data is the January consumer price index (CPI) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The State of the Union included declared policy for a ratepayer protection pledge. The speech included, “We’re telling the major tech companies they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs and can build their own power plants so no one’s prices will go up.”

NY Times | As Electric Bills Rise, Trump Says Tech Companies Should Pay More

A “Lightening Amendment” by Louisiana regulators can shift up to 75% of AI electric costs to consumers. The Louisiana Public Service Commission’s (LPSC) in late 2025 created “ a fast track for utility companies seeking to build power plants and other infrastructure in response to a large, energy-intensive customer’s request to connect to the grid. This type of large customer is, by far, most likely to be an AI data center these days.”

Another week, another electricty rate affordability bill running through a state legislature. This week’s state bill: Indiana’s HB 1002.

“The bill introduces a framework called performance based ratemaking that gives Indiana more power to hold utilities accountable to state electric affordability and reliability goals.”

Indy star | Indiana Senate passes bill reshaping how utilities charge customers

ALEC graces us with model legislation for state energy facility siting and permitting. ALEC’s buzz phrases about their legislation: streamline state approval of energy facilities; limit local governments intervention; state siting authority. And like early 2000 Kanye West song lyrics: faster, transparent, & predictable.

During an earnings call, Ameren Missouri CEO said that multiple large data center developments have signed binding electricty use agreements totaling more than 2.2 GW. 2.2GW is nearly the capacity of one its generation facilities. @stlpublicradio

So far this year, bills in Georgia and Oklahoma, have called for a moratorium on new data center development until the impacts on power, water, and communities can be further studied.

Couple this with these two new reports:

(1) A report from Xylem, a water technology company, found that water demand for data centers will grow by 129% by 2050 or about 30 trillion liters of water each year. 

(2) (2) Research from the British Standards Institution and water efficiency nonprofit Water wise found that the explosion of data center development increases water insecurity.

Route Fifty | Researchers warn of AI, data centers’ water impact

Tem is an energy transactions start up that looks to cut electric prices. It recently closed an oversubscribed $75M series B. They have businesses signed up in the UK and will expand to Texas.

Tech Crunch | Tem raises $75M to remake electricity markets using AI

This opinion piece argue that AI can make the grid more reliable, efficient, and flexible. The gist is that AI can reduce operational costs for utilities; manage outages efficiently; and reduce strain with tactical implementation.

In 2024, Maryland and Colorado passed laws requiring large utilities to create virtual power plant programs.

This list tracks the 100 legislative and regulatory actions on virtual power plants in 2025.

In 2026, New Mexico’s legislature is considering the New Mexico GRID Act that requires the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to lay out VPP program rules by the end of 2027.

Utility Dive | New Mexico VPP bill would allow third-party aggregators to participate

R Street opinion on Georgia’s SB 34 says “Considering the Public Service Commission’s track record and the deluge of data centers coming to Georgia, it seems appropriate for the Legislature to assert its authority and safeguard consumers. They should not have to subsidize data centers’ energy usage, and passing SB 34 is a no-nonsense way of accomplishing this and addressing issues of affordability.”

How did we get here? Recent Democratic gains in state elections and the impact of data center electric usage.

Finland has discovered how to transmit electricity via air. It’s physics. Like wifi the strength of the transmission diminishes with distance. Nicola Tesla theorized the physics more than a century ago. @astrophilez

On Thursday the Texas Attorney General announced that it was filed suit against a wind turbine recycler for “illegally dumping thousands of wind turbine blades and materials at two disposal sites in Sweetwater, Texas. ”

We can point them to how to practically upcycle wind turbines into shade for bicycle storage, bus stops, Agrivoltaic systems, etc…

A “statement of principles” signed by Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council and the governors of Pennsylvania, Ohio Virginia and other states” will see “grid operator to hold a reliability power auction in which tech companies would bid on 15-year contracts for new electricity generation.”

“I never want Americans to pay higher Electricity bills because of Data Centers,” Trump said

Governing | Trump May Force Tech Giants to Pay for Data Center Power Costs

Looks like we should watch 2026 legislatures for how they address power outages from January 2026’s massive winter storm. More than 190 million people in the U.S. experienced disruptions, and 1 million had full fledged outages.

Barton’s | US Monster Storm Kills 30

Governing | 190 million

Rural Texans are mounting opposition to a high voltage transmission line in Central and West Texas. It is said that the transmission line will be the first 765-kilovolt power line in Texas.

Opposition concerns focus on natural resources like “pristine rivers”, impact to ranch lands, the fragmentation of family properties, harm to the tourism-based economy, and depressing land values, while providing no local electricity benefits to the properties in its path, and the deep digging required that will impact wildlife and the water table.

Daily Yonder | Amid the AI-Driven Boom in Energy Demand, Rural Texans Fight a High-Voltage Transmission Line

Georgia Legislature will be considering Senate Bill 34, “a bill designed to protect residential ratepayers from costs associated with data center infrastructure by prohibiting costs associated with fuel requirements, generation and transmission from being included in general rates.”

The author says the state’s utility commission rule to protect consumers from AI related electric rate increases does not adequately protect consumers.

Georgia Records | Outrage over surge of data centers in Georgia inspires wave of bipartisan bills

Let’s circle back to Florida Governor’s proposed AI bill of rights. It will protect water by “Protect[ing] Florida’s Water Resources—Ensure that water resources are not utilized to the detriment of the public. ”

Florida’s Governor has proposed an AI Bill of Rights that would protect consumers from electric rate increases due to data centers and AI.

Specifically, he proposes to “Protect Ratepayers—Prohibit utilities from charging Florida residents more to support hyperscale data center development, including electric, gas, and water utilities.”

Lots of moving pieces around New Jersey’s large load tariff bill, A5462. The Governor wants changes that benefit data centers. These changes include making the bill less prescriptive and more flexible by removing some of the hard numbers around power purchases and timelines.

The bill has passed both chambers. The bill author’s response to the Governor’s request: ”We are not willing to bend to any changes to this bill.”

Utility Dive | NJ governor seeks changes to ‘weaken’ large load tariff bill, lawmaker says

“Meta is planning to build tens of gigawatts this decade, and hundreds of gigawatts or more over time. How we engineer, invest, and partner to build this infrastructure will become a strategic advantage,” Zuckerberg said in a post on Threads on Monday.

TechCrunch | Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is launching its own AI infrastructure initiative

New Jersey is poised to charge data centers for increases in electric rates. A5462 has now passed both chambers.

The bill will “require public electric utilities to submit proposed tariffs to the state Board of Public Utilities and incentivize data centers to increase energy efficiency by adopting technologies that capture and use the heat they generate. Under the bill, energy users of more than 100 megawatts monthly would be charged the new tariffs beginning one year after the bill’s enactment.”

New Jersey Monitor | NJ lawmakers OK plan to charge data centers for spiking electric costs

Quilt, a three zone heat pump startup, uses heat pump data and multiple censors to improve capacity and allows for wireless updates to improve heat and cooling. A recent update to Quilt systems increased capacity by 20%.

TechCrunch | How Quilt solved the heat pump’s biggest challenge

In discussing the impact of local data center projects, Maryland legislators are being alerted to the statewide impact on electric use by local data center projects decision making.

Issues that arise from a new local data centers include new transmission lines, new distribution lines, new substations, and increased electric rates from this new infrastructure.

Maryland Matters | In 2026, more data center regulations could be coming in Maryland

Senate Bill 763 (Michigan | 2026) would prevent water utilities from passing off onto residential customers the water infrastructure costs to accommodate data centers.

Michigan Advance | Trio of Michigan Senate Democrats introduce policy to address data center water usage

In an attempt to address data center water use, Michigan Legislature is considering Senate Bill 761 that would limit consumptive water use to an average of 2,000,000 gallons of water per day &  Senate Bill 762 requiring transparency standards on how much water and energy data centers use.

Meet geothermal startup Zanskar. Wired is covering Zanskar’s newly discovered source of geothermal power in Nevada. Why the geothermal focus on the west?

“Geothermal resources are especially accessible in areas where tectonic plates meet and the Earth’s crust is thinner.”

Enhanced geothermal startup Fervo Energy raised $462 million from Google for its first large-scale, Utah based, power plant. It will also begin developing other geothermal power plants. 

tech crunch | Google invests in Fervo’s $462M round to unlock even more geothermal energy

Energy storage set lofty goals. In 2015 their goal was set to deploy 35 GW of storage by 2025. Early in December 2025, 40+ GW have been deployed. 

“In eight years, energy storage went from a tiny player to one of the largest sources of new power on the U.S. grid.”  

Arizona, California, and Texas have benefitted. 

Tech Crunch | Energy storage industry set aggressive goals for 2025 — and already crushed them

A start up wants to beam solar power back to earth for constant solar energy. Meet Overview Energy which wants to beam energy down to earth. 

Investors include Aurelia Institute, Earthrise Ventures, Engine Ventures, EQT Foundation, Lowercarbon Capital, and Prime Movers Lab.

Overview energy isn’t alone in the space energy race. 

Other companies are attempting the same feat. Aetherflux is also laser oriented while Emrod and Orbital Composites/Virtus Solis are developing microwave-based power transmission. 

TechCrunch | Overview Energy wants to beam energy from space to existing solar farms

Space offers data centers 24/7 solar power, cooling because space is cold, and no permitting. @cnbc

@mitsloan associate dean of innovation Dame Fiona Murray says boardrooms and investors need to “make decisions around innovation, industrialization, and investment.” Those decisions should be governed by geopolitical calculus that dictate advancements in energy.

Clean energy employs 3.5 million and is growing at a rate 3 times faster than the U.S. workforce. @goodgoodgoodco

An @mitenergy professor “says that energy storage is arguably the single most important technological problem we have to solve.”

He is developing and commercializing a new type of battery based on thermal energy conversion instead of the conventional electro-chemical reaction—a battery that’s been dubbed, “sun in a box.”

Santa Monica, California is nearing water self-sufficiency. Since 2018, the city has done the work to invest in a state-of-the-art water recycling system that treats wastewater, storm water, and urban water run-off to provide drinking water while restoring local ground water supplies. 

Governing | A California City’s Groundbreaking Path to Water Self-Sufficiency

Missouri Public Service Commission approved a large-load tariff to ensure that data centers cover new costs. Kansas utilities negotiated a similar cost shift to data centers without an order.

“The tariff reflects broad stakeholder consensus and “contains strong safeguards to ensure that large new loads pay their fair share while enabling growth that benefits Missouri,” the commissioners said in the order.”

Governing | Missouri to Charge Data Centers New Costs for Electricity Use

Morningstar says U.S. electric utilities are in the midst of an investment super cycle. Morningstar points to the industry’s $1.4 trillion capital spending to meet generation needs for data centers from now to 2030. This capital investment is double that of the previous 10 years.

In the same report, Morningstar named California, Texas, and Louisiana as states that may face resource inadequacy.

Utility Dive | US electric utilities entering investment ‘super-cycle,’ says Morningstar DBRS

Bonjour Exowatt. Exowatt is powering AI with a 24 hour system that uses solar and thermal power. The goal is cheap power that is available 24/7.

Tech Crunch lists the investors as MVP Ventures and 8090 Industries with participation from Atomic, BAM, Bay Bridge Ventures, DeepWork Capital, Dragon Global, the Florida Opportunity Fund, Massive VC, New Atlas Capital, Overmatch, Protagonist, and StepStone. Previous investors include Andreessen Horowitz and Sam Altman.

Data center technology has been changing rapidly. Racks in data centers now use 200kw. Soon it will be 600kw and then a 1GW.

To meet these needs, Veir, a Microsoft-backed startup, will introduce a cable system capable of carrying 3 megawatts of low-voltage electricity.

Tech Crunch | Microsoft-backed Veir is bringing superconductors to data centers

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reminds us that data centers use about 4% of U.S. power, double the amount data centers used in 2018. By 2028, it is estimated that data centers will use 6.7% to 12% of U.S. power.

Tech Crunch | Rising energy prices put AI and data centers in the crosshairs

After Tuesday’s elections, Public Service Enterprise Group CEO announced an intent to lower electric rates for people in New Jersey. 

Is there an impetus? Perhaps it is the incoming Governor’s statement that she will declare an emergency on utility rates. 

The CEO statement came during a earnings call, and included “We stand ready to work with the incoming administration to do our part to keep rates as low as possible in the short-term and work on longer-term solutions to add supply.”  

Utility Dive | PSEG could offer lower rates to New Jersey’s incoming governor: equity analysts

FERC’s most recent monthly report says that the U.S. added 26GW of capacity from January to August 2025. That’s up from 24GW in 2024 during the same time. 19GW of this is new solar capacity.

Large renewable projects that began operating include Hecate Energy’s 517-MW Outpost solar and storage project in Webb County, Texas.

New data from the Solar Energy Industries Association shows that the entire solar supply chain has been reshored and U.S. manufacturing capacity has grown across every segment of the solar and storage supply chain.

 As of October 2025, the United States has surpassed 60 gigawatts (GW) of domestic solar module production capacity, a 37% increase from December 2024.

Meet COI Energy which has developed a platform that allows unused industrial purchased power to be sold.

tech crunch | COI Energy solves a conundrum: Letting businesses sell unused electricity — catch it at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

One of OKlahoma’s 2 largest shareholder owned electric providers told lawmakers this week that the state has enough water for data center development but would need more power generation.

Lawmakers are concerned about cost increases for residential customers. It is said that the state’s current ratemaking structures result in residential and small industrial customers subsidizing the cost of the additional generation and transmission.

GovTech | Oklahoma Lawmakers Discuss Data Center Energy Needs

Assembly Bill A9138 and Senate Bill S8518  impose no new taxes on crypto mining operations that use less than  2.25 million kilowatt-hours annually. The bills add a tax rate that jumps to 2 cents per kWh for consumption over 2.25 million to 5 million kWh per year, 3 cents per kWh for over 5 million to 10 million kWh, 4 cents per kWh for over 10 million to 20 million kWh, and maxes out at 5 cents per kWh for consumption exceeding 20 million kWh annually. 

Decrypt | NY Democrats Propose Companion Bill Targeting Proof-of-Work Mining

Texas A&M researchers have a new water data tool for you. Bonjour, Mapping Metro Water Use: Sources, Industries, and Consumption. 54% of Texas water use is from ground water. 42% is surface water (lakes, rivers, streams). 4% is reuse. Lubbock has the highest per capita water use and Austin has the lowest.

75% of global clean energy patents are held by China. In 2000, China held 5%. 

This includes 90% of solar and wind technology patents, 85% for energy storage, and more than 70%for batteries and electromobility.

Ember-energy.org via Governing

On Thursday Google announced that it is investing in an Illinois power plant that incorporate carbon capture. The goal is to capture 90% of carbon released. This is Google’s first investment in carbon capture and storage.

TechCrunch | Google’s bets on carbon capture power plants, which have a mixed record

Everything is bigger in Texas, including its energy use. Since 2007, energy use in Texas has risen 21% as the nation’s energy use has declined by 5%.

Texas leads the nation in energy use. Texas energy use is double that of California, which is 2nd in energy use. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s State Energy Data System, Texas energy use was higher among all sectors:  commercial, residential, transportation and industrial.

Ray Perryman, Texas economist, says Texas energy use reflects Texas positive economic climate.

Governing | Texas Consumes More Energy Than Any Other State by a Wide Margin

U.S. Geothermal investments in Q1 of 2025 totaled $1.7 B in public funding. For perspective total 2024 U.S. geothermal investments were $2 billion in public funds.

As geothermal energy becomes competitively viable, the International Energy Agency, says by 2035 energy from enhanced geothermal systems could cost as little as $50 per megawatt-hour, a price competitive with other renewable sources.

Governing | The Huge Potential of Power From Beneath the Earth

Fusion energy start ups are  powering AI. Ai is also helping generate that power. Google’s DeepMind AI is lending its help to fine tune fusion energy generation by Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS). In addition to buying power, Google participated in CFS’s $863 million Series B2 round alongside Nvidia.

CFS seeks to be the first fusion device capable of producing more power than the plant needs to run itself. 

TechCrunch | The real reason Google DeepMind is working with a fusion energy startup

Stop the Data Center opposes a University of Michigan and Los Alamos data center project because of impact to electric bills and water resources, regional air emissions and the use of tax payer funds to construct the facility.

Opposition also includes locating the facility near a low-income area.

Inside Climate News | Los Alamos and University of Michigan Want to Build a National Security ‘Data Center’ in Ypsilanti. Residents and Local Officials See Few Benefits.

The Edison Electric Institute members are projected to make capital expenditures of $1.1 trillion between now and 2029. EEI’s 2024 financial review. 

This increase in capital expenditures is directly attributable to the rise in electric use.

We’ve talked about salt based battery storage, but now let’s delve into salt water power generation. Columbia has street lights powered by salt water that work because of the reaction between salt water and copper.

Half a liter of water can power a street lamp for 45 days.  Japan is opening a facility that scales up this generation.

@thebrainypedia

The Guardian | Japan has opened its first osmotic power plant – so what is it and how does it work

Commercial buildings are turning to ice thermal energy for cooling. The system freezes water at night, and releases the cool air during the day. 

It’s even being used in the South. Norton Audubon Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, used only traditional A/C and has adopted a hybrid system. The HVAC works in combination with 27 ice thermal systems. The hospital’s annual savings from using less HVAC is more than $278,000.

@APNews

Bonjour, Base Power. Base Power is an Austin, TX start up that has raised $1.2 billion since April 2025. The company began in 2023 and has deployed more than 100 megawatt-hours worth of its home storage batteries in Texas.

Upfront costs vary between $695 and $995, with a monthly fee of $19-$29, for a 3 year electric purchase commitment at 8.5 cents per kilowatt-hour plus delivery fees. 

Tech Crunch | Base Power raises $1B to deploy home batteries everywhere

AB 93 requires that data centers disclose their water use. As filed, the bill would have required public disclosure of the water use. After amendment, the water use is disclosed, but directly to regulators. Thus, the public disclosure is a bit murkier. The bill is awaiting the Governor’s approval.

This isn’t a new trend but it’s gaining momentum. In 2024, Michigan enacted HB4906 requiring public disclosure of water use by data centers. 

California Legislature considered providing sales tax incentives for data centers which relied on renewable energy with onsite battery backup power. SB 58

Cal Matters via WFMJ21 | California Legislature passes two watered-down bills to regulate data center water use, energy costs

AB 222 Would have required data centers in California to publicly disclose, twice a year, their energy use. The bill passed the Assembly, was amended in the Senate and died.

The bill also would have required that state energy regulators regularly report on whether data centers energy use was impacting consumer electric bills.

Cal Matters via WFMJ21 | California Legislature passes two watered-down bills to regulate data center water use, energy costs

Bipartisan federal legislation, the Unleashing Low-Cost Rural AI Act, calls for the federal government, via the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, and Energy to conduct a joint study on how AI data center expansion impacts rural areas in energy supply, reliability, and consumer costs.

Guess which part of the country saw the greatest number of job growth in renewable energy in 2024? If you said the South, you are correct. The  2025 Clean Jobs America report tells us 1/3 of all U.S. clean energy jobs are in the South. 

What is bolstering job growth in renewables? In 2024, 90% of added capacity was in renewables. Add to this, natural generation to support AI and data centers takes an estimated 7 years while wind and solar can supply generation quickly for these facilities. 

.

Governing | Here’s Where Clean Energy Jobs Grew the Most in 2024

Ohio legislature has before it a bipartisan bill that helps with mortgage relief and utility bills. The legislation mirrors the state’s COVID era Save the Dream Program. SB 255 This bill will offer mortgage and utility assistance grants to people with income up of $75,000 and will require the recipient to be disabled or over 65. There is a $3000 cap on assistance per person under the bill as filed.

Governing | Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Help Homeowners With Mortgage and Utility Costs in Ohio

Central Maine Power asked its regulator for a $1.2 billion rate increase over 5 years. The Governor has objections which include: the rate increase ignores the economic reality for people in Maine, the rate increase ask is too big, it undermines transparent legislation she signed supporting state planned electric utility investments, and the subtext of a rate increase at the regulator is not transparency for Mainers.

California Legislature pulled funding from its virtual power plant program(s)  that would have offered more than 1GW, and offered customers, utilities and/or aggregators compensation in exchange for allowing their resources to be dispatched at times of grid stress. 

A study found that the virtual power plant would have saved ratepayers $206 million between 2025 and 2028. What happened? A $12 billion state budget shortfall. 

Utility Dive | California zeroes out funding for world’s ‘largest virtual power plant’

California’s state budget includes $227.5 M to develop offshore wind capacity at its ports so as to expand supply chain growth opportunities. These funds are in addition to 2024 voter approved bonds to fund more than $475 million for offshore wind. The state’s goal is 25GW of offshore ind power by 2045.

Clean Technical | The US Offshore Wind Industry Is Scheming For A Comeback|

This week the Energy Information Administration released its Short-Term Energy Outlook that says generation will grow 2.3% in 2025 and 3% in 2026. Utility-scale solar will grow the most in 2025 generating 33%, or 72 billion kilowatthours (BkWh) more than last year. Wind will increase by 4% and nuclear by 2% over last year.

Policy challenges to clean energy have changed how money is being invested. But, the amount of investment is up over last year. Surprise! For the first half of 2025, investments in clean energy are $86 billion in the U.S., up from $80 billion for the same time frame in 2024. Notable changes in investments are increased diversification including storage, advanced manufacturing, critical minerals, nuclear, & biofuels.

Utility Dive | Amid policy pressures, clean energy investment is diversifying: Crux

California legislature has amended AB 825 so that California’s ISO can participate in regional power markets.

The California Chamber says this move will “allow for A broader regional market improves dispatch efficiency, reduces curtailment of renewable generation, and expands access to low-cost resources for California customers. Multiple studies show the state’s participation in a “large footprint” regional market can yield more than $1 billion in annual savings for households and businesses.”

A survey by Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative indicates that 34% of the population is “informed and engaged” about energy efficiency. These people obsessed with energy efficiency are under 55 and college educated.

This week it was announced that Hitachi Energy will build a $457 million transformer production facility in South Boston, Virginia. Transformers will be rolling off the line by 2028.

Utility Dive | Hitachi unveils $1B grid manufacturing investment, including Virginia transformer factory

The U.S. Department of Energy is utilizing federal land in states like Idaho and Wyoming to power AI. One site in Idaho is 85% the size of Rhode Island. @Wyomingpublicradio

States and the federal government can enter into Memorandums of Understanding under the Fast- 41 program to streamline the process of identifying more federal assistance options. Projects often involve energy production, electricity transmission and energy storage.

Alaska’s permitting Council Executive Director says , “ It’ll allow us to partner early to identify projects. It’ll allow us to provide expertise and value to the state through looking at best practices and technology implementation to help streamline their permitting process.“

Route Fifty | Alaska signs first-of-its-kind permit streamlining deal with feds

Meta and Entergy’s development of 2.25GW of gas power to supply Meta’s Louisiana $10 billion data center project has been approved. Queue celebrations.  Then, consider that the data center could need up to 5 GW. Enter 3rd grade math, that is double the amount of power. The agreement runs for 15 years.

Tech Crunch | Gas power plants approved for Meta’s $10B data center, and not everyone is happy

This week Meta announced a 100MW solar power purchase agreement for a North Carolina data center. The agreement includes an investment of $100 million in the solar project.

Tech Crunch | Meta to add 100MW of solar power from US gear

Texas Attorney General has launched an investigation into whether decisions based on ESG by 3 energy companies contributed to the 2024 Texas Panhandle wildfires. In the words of the Attorney General, “It is unconscionable that utility companies might have sacrificed infrastructure maintenance, public safety, and the well-being of our Texas communities for radical ESG and DEI goals. If any companies connected to these devastating fires have violated Texas law, they will be held accountable. We will not stop fighting for those who were victimized by these fires.”

Since 2020, the national average electric bill has increased by 30%. “A June analysis, from Carnegie Mellon University and North Carolina State University, found that electricity bills are on track to rise an average of 8 percent nationwide by 2030 and as much as 25 percent in places like Virginia because of data centers.”

NY Times | Big Tech’s A.I. Data Centers Are Driving Up Electricity Bills for Everyone

There’s been a 4% increase in the cost of power purchase agreements for renewable energy since the Big Beautiful Bill passed. Buying renewable power is still top priority for 95% of purchasers while 68% of purchasers feel the need to sign a power purchase agreement immediately. 

Utility Dive | Renewable power purchase agreement prices rising in wake of One Big Beautiful Bill Act

Cyber security experts have partnered with water utilities through a public-service project called DEF CON Franklin since late 2024. Now the project is scaling up as the national Rural Water Association is joining as they seek to prevent hacking of water facilities. 

DEF CON Franklin | Hackers and Industry Mobilize to Defend U.S. Water Systems

The Big Beautiful Bill has its 1st fast tracked coal mining application. The Utah coal mining application states that it will produce nearly 3 million tons of recoverable coal on federal land and nearly 4.6 million tons of private coal.

Utah’s Governor said that the coal mining operation would “deliver reliable power, rural jobs, and greater American energy independence.”

Governing | Utah Mine First to Use Fast-Tracked Process Under Big, Beautiful Bill

The City of Cedar Park public works and utilities has an aging workforce. To solve this issue, the city partnered with Leander Independent School District. Together they developed a curriculum, found Texas Education Agency support and created a direct apprentice pipeline that had both work experience and a provisional certification in water plant operations that would qualify for a job offer from the water utility.

Governing | How a Texas High School Helped a Water Utility Find New Workers

Wyoming is primed to be the first state in which AI uses more energy than the humans do. A new data center near Cheyenne will initially consist of A 1.8-gigawatt phase, consuming 15.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually. This is 5 TIMES more than the electricity used by every household in the state. @arstechnica

Google is partnering with Italian energy storage company Energy Dome for CO2 Battery technology to power data centers. Energy Dome has been operating another CO2 storage system for 3 years and which supplies 20MW.

The pressurized CO2 storage allows for a storage capacity for 8-24 hours, unlike current lithium batteries that store energy for roughly 4 hours. @rowancheung

A January 2025 Executive Order stopped offshore wind power leases in water ways that are under federal jurisdiction. This creates an interesting loophole: water ways that are regulated by states. The Great Lakes waterways are under state control and not federal control.

“A 2023 analysis from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that the Great Lakes states have enough offshore wind power potential to provide three times as much electricity as all eight Great Lakes states use.”

Governing | The Great Lakes’ Untapped Wind Power

Australian water utilities are using floating solar panels to limit evaporation and generate electricity. @bloomberggreen

Geothermal is old school. Older than the 14th Century, old.  @cnbc introduces us to Quaise Energy, a Massachusetts-based startup, that is developing technology, which involves an electromagnetic beam that vaporizes rock. This geothermal energy is ripe for AI. 

The average, midsized data center uses 300,000 gallons of water a day, roughly the use of 1,000 homes according to the Water and Community Resilience at the Houston Advanced Research Center. A large data center could use 4.5 million gallons a day. It is estimated that data centers in Texas will consume 49 billion gallons of water in 2025. 

Austin Chronicle | Texas Is Still in Drought, and AI Data Centers Are Quietly Guzzling Up Water

Data center electric usage by 2030 will equal the country of Japan according to the UN Secretary General. In an address data centers energy use is identified as  “ a moment of opportunity” to build energy sources and a corresponding workforce for this “new energy economy. “

Bank Of America Institute Breaks down electric demand in its July report. This report also breaks down how money is invested in the electric market. 67% of electric industry spending ($63 billion) was spent on replacements.

They posit that an  increase in electric demand merits more spending on lines and substations to avoid outages. In 2024, $23 billion was spent on lines and substations. 

Bank of America institute estimates that U.S. electric demand will increase 2.5% annually through 2035.

Bank of America Institute’s 2.5% CAGR prediction includes historical annual growth of about 0.5%, with another 1% coming from building electrification, 0.5% from data centers,  0.3% from industrial growth and 0.2% from electric vehicles.

Georgia has been adding data centers. In this process, it is said there is little disclosure of water use by data centers. Estimates show a single data center can use as much water as 30,000 households. The impact a data center has on communities has led to taps reportedly running dry in Newton County, GA. @crkeeper

As of July 16, the U.S. has had a record number of flash flood warnings, year-to-date. According to the National Weather Service there have been  3,160 flash flood warnings in the U.S.

An Executive Order issued Thursday exempts a list of coal facilities from a May 7th EPA rule amendment concerning preexisting Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). The EPA made the rule more stringent.

Germany is installing solar panels as noise and safety barriers on highways. Since the state controls highway lands, no need to acquire land.

According to pv magazine, researchers at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems have developed five different photovoltaic designs that integrate directly into sound-absorbing walls. @thebrainypedia

California’s grid operator will become the first in the nation to use generative AI to help identify and manage blackouts.

Other operators, including those in Texas and the Mid-Atlantic, are watching closely. MIT Technology Review first reported the news. @therundownai