Senate Permitting Deal Hands Data Centers the Full Grid Bill; OpenAI Signs for 8 GW in Pike County
Sunday, October 4, 2026 · 10 min
A bipartisan Senate permitting package would make data centers pay both incremental and embedded transmission costs, while OpenAI takes a 20-year, roughly 8-gigawatt lease at SB Energy's Ohio campus backed by more than 9 gigawatts of planned gas. Plus TVA's Clinch River SMR permit and two fights over who gives up land for data center transmission lines in Louisiana and Indiana.
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A bipartisan Senate permitting package would make data centers pay both incremental and embedded transmission costs, while OpenAI takes a 20-year, roughly 8-gigawatt lease at SB Energy's Ohio campus backed by more than 9 gigawatts of planned gas. Plus TVA's Clinch River SMR permit and two fights over who gives up land for data center transmission lines in Louisiana and Indiana.
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