By Kennedy Maize Here’s a simple, even obvious, solution to the threat that data centers pose to the nation’s high-voltage interstate electric transmission grid, but once would have been anathema: get the data centers off the grid. The rise of massive, gigawatt-scale data centers rivaling the electric consumption of entire cities, along with enormous, consumptive … More Unleashing data centers from the grid?
By Kennedy Maize Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has called the governors of the seven states that comprise the troubled Colorado River Compact to Washington for a January 30 meeting to hash out a compromise. All but one will appear. Only California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom won’t appear, citing a long-standing family commitment. He’s sending Wade … More DOI summons Colorado River Compact governors to D.C.
By Kennedy Maize The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week (Jan. 22) issued a 40-year license to the Goldendale energy project to build and run a 1.2-GW closed-loop hydroelectric pumped storage plant in south-central Washington state’s Klickitat County. The site is about two miles north of the Columbia River, which separates Washington and Oregon. According … More FERC OKs big new hydro pumped storage project
By Kennedy Maize Confusion and skepticism are trending over the Trump administration’s plan to radically intervene in the way the giant PJM Interconnection buys electricity to supply distribution utilities in order to aid power-gobbling data centers. Skepticism is in the lead. Just as various analysts were teasing out the details and implications of the administration’s … More Scoping out Trump’s PJM data center auction plan
By Kennedy Maize Democrat Abigail Spanberger, 46, a three-term member of Congress and former CIA undercover agent, became Virginia’s 75th governor and first female chief executive last Saturday (Jan. 17) with a solid mandate to attack skyrocketing electric bills in the state harboring “data center alley.” While campaigning against high electricity prices helped her achieve … More Abigail Spanberger, Virginia’s new governor and energy
By Kennedy Maize In an eye-watering 1,600 pages, the U.S. Department of Interior has given the western state parties battling over a replacement to the 1922 Colorado River Compact’s stalled update five alternative solutions. In a draft environmental impact statement, DOI offers its choices for divvying up the flow of the crucial river when the … More Interior’s massive Colorado River Compact supply options unveiled
By Kennedy Maize Looking at the current hoopla over a U.S. nuclear power revival brings to mind the words of renowned U.S. philosopher and athlete Lawrence “Yogi” Berra: “It’s deja vu all over again.” A nuclear revival faces tough going in 2026. A key attribute favoring nukes — no greenhouse gas emissions — has dematerialized … More Potholes on the road to a nuclear power revival
By Kennedy Maize Three words — “arbitrary and capricious” — are coming to define the Trump administration’s approach to trying to slap down long-established energy programs it doesn’t like: offshore wind power under the Department of Interior and clean energy grants at the Department of Energy. In a ruling from the bench Monday (Jan. 12), … More D.C. court slams multiple Trump actions against green energy programs
By Kennedy Maize The giant PJM Interconnection has been inundated by data centers — some real, some probably not — seeking to connect their load to the regional transmission organization’s high-voltage transmission grid. PJM’s independent market monitor — Monitoring Analytics — reported on January 5 that PJM’s 2027-2028 capacity auction for electricity supply, held in … More Ebbs and flows amid the AI deluge
By Kennedy Maize Donald Trump’s latest attack on offshore wind power is headed to court. Five projects off the East Coast from Massachusetts to Virginia — with some $25 billion in investments and 7-GW of generating capacity at risk — are pushing back. Their target is a December Interior Department order in December halting construction … More Trump’s multi-billion-dollar assault on offshore wind lands in court