Sarah: PJM wants a rule for who gets curtailed first.
Sarah: Texas is making it easier for big loads to leave the grid entirely.
Sarah: That is one way to make a national power problem very local.
Sarah: New to this story? Here's where things stand.
Sarah: PJM’s large-load integration fight was already juggling expedited interconnection
Sarah: queue reform ride-through requirements
Sarah: IRAS proposals and federal pressure around demand response and virtual power plants.
Sarah: FERC has also set up a dispute-resolution forum starting September 1
Sarah: 2026 with the goal of turning governance and stakeholder-process disputes into a future filing.
Matt: This is The Data Center Daily.
Matt: Today: a federal tariff fight, Texas off-grid detours, and billions chasing campuses that still need actual electrons.
Sarah: From Somto Nwanolue at Federal Character:
Quote: PJM Interconnection the grid operator serving 67 million people across 13 states and Washington
Quote: D.C. has asked federal regulators to approve rules that would cut power to new data centers ahead of households during supply shortages.
Quote: The filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission follows two consecutive capacity auctions that failed to secure enough generation.
Quote: PJM’s board projects roughly 70 GW of new large load by 2038 against roughly 15 GW of generation retired since 2022.
Sarah: On PJM’s large-load integration fight, here’s the update: new data centers would be curtailed first under PJM’s proposed FERC rules.
Sarah: The cutoff is 50 MW at one site, and June 1, 2027—secure supply by then, or go ahead of households in the shedding order.
Matt: PJM projects 70 gigawatts of new large load by 2038, after 15 gigawatts of generation retired since 2022.
Matt: Two capacity auctions came up short.
Matt: So yes, the grid operator has stopped pretending every proposed campus gets firm power on demand.
Sarah: PJM’s Interim Resource Adequacy Service would curtail these new loads before calling pre-emergency demand response.
Sarah: There’s also a Large Load Registry tracking every 50-MW-plus site
Sarah: its draw and whether it has secured generation— a useful distinction between announced power and actual power.
Matt: But PJM can’t throw the switch itself.
Matt: Utilities and states have to execute the cuts, so the June 2027 deadline is only as tough as the state-level enforcement behind it.
Matt: Virginia already told operators to fund dedicated infrastructure; that’s the kind of paperwork this rule will force.
Sarah: Latitude Media, with Elizabeth K. Whitney:
Quote: Earlier this month, Gov.
Quote: Greg Abbott of Texas made major waves by pausing new data center connections to the grid until regulators audit the 474 gigawatts currently
Quote: in the ERCOT interconnection queue. At first
Quote: it sounded like Texas was following in New York’s footsteps and halting data center construction in the face of intense consumer backlash.
Matt: Abbott paused new grid connections while ERCOT audits a 474-gigawatt queue.
Matt: Developers with enough capital will build private generation
Matt: and everybody else gets a grid with even less visibility into where the next giant load could land.
Sarah: Latitude makes a precise point: this is a pause on connections, not data-center construction itself.
Sarah: Texas may be redirecting projects into data-center-plus-power-plant structures while statewide demand could double within five years.
Matt: And SB6 already had a sensible guardrail: an existing generator needed PUC approval before peeling off to serve data-center load.
Matt: Now the policy incentive is, fine, bring your own plant and sort out the accounting later.
Matt: That’s a heck of a planning model.
Sarah: It’s a sharp contrast with the PJM filing we just covered.
Sarah: PJM is trying to put large-load obligations into a FERC tariff; Texas risks sending the same demand around the interconnection process
Sarah: altogether.
Sarah: Here's Jim DiPeso at NewsData:
Quote: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Aug.
Quote: 14 gave six regional power markets another three months to respond to show-cause orders aimed at speeding large-load connections to the
Quote: grid. The commission granted abeyance motions filed by the California Independent System Operator
Quote: Southwest Power Pool
Quote: Midcontinent Independent System Operator
Quote: PJM Interconnection New York ISO and ISO New England.
Quote: Under the June 18 orders, the original response deadline was Aug. 17.
Sarah: FERC gave all six organized markets more time on the June show-cause orders.
Sarah: CAISO, SPP, MISO, PJM, NYISO, and ISO-NE now get roughly another three months.
Sarah: For most of the U.S.
Sarah: grid, the reform calendar has moved to November all at once.
Matt: And these are the rules meant to speed up large-load connections.
Matt: CAISO's filing is now due November 16
Matt: SPP's November 20—while projects are still asking utilities for power on timelines that aren’t magically gaining 90 days.
Sarah: The curtailment filing we just covered is an actual PJM tariff move; this is the wider procedural drag around it.
Sarah: Six markets agreeing they need more stakeholder time is orderly governance, but it won’t cure a five-year queue.
Matt: Every developer with a project above 50 megawatts should mark those dates anyway.
Matt: By June 1, 2027, PJM wants secured supply. By mid-November
Matt: the rest of the market still has to explain how it plans to connect giant loads without handing the cleanup bill to existing customers.
Sarah: Intelligent Data Centres, with Bill Tanner:
Quote: Bitdeer has signed a 16-year colocation lease and services agreement for 121MW of AI and high-performance computing capacity at its Tydal
Quote: data centre campus in Norway.
Quote: The agreement signed through subsidiary Tydal Data Center AS with Volta Tydal AS
Quote: represents approximately US$4.7 billion in contracted revenue over the initial term.
Quote: An eight-year renewal option could increase the total contract value to around US$8 billion over 24 years.
Quote: Volta’s customer will be a leading AI lab, while Dell Technologies will serve as technology provider.
Quote: The entire 121MW IT load will be configured to run NVIDIA GPUs.
Sarah: Bitdeer has actual contract numbers for Tydal: 121 megawatts, a 16-year lease, and about $4.7 billion through the initial term.
Sarah: The first 60.5-megawatt phase is due December 31, 2026; the second follows March 31.
Matt: Signed beats an option deck, absolutely.
Matt: But Volta’s customer is still an unnamed “leading AI lab,” and 121 megawatts of NVIDIA GPUs only count once that 133 megawatts of Norwegian
Matt: supply is actually delivering through four halls.
Sarah: The disclosure is oddly split-screen: Dell gets a name.
Sarah: NVIDIA too. The AI lab doesn’t.
Sarah: Bitdeer also says renewable power and a 1.1 PUE target—strong Nordic economics, but the delivery dates are the part to calendar.
Matt: And compare that with the U.S.
Matt: stories we just hit: PJM is writing curtailment obligations while Texas risks pushing load off-grid.
Matt: Norway is offering dependable hydro and a 16-year runway.
Matt: It’s a cleaner setup—if the build lands on time.
Sarah: PR Newswire writes:
Quote: The financing will support more than 130 megawatts (MW) of new capacity across four key markets in Flexential's national platform
Quote: providing a scalable source of capital to build ahead of enterprise and AI-driven infrastructure needs.
Quote: Projects currently under construction include a 36 MW facility in Atlanta-Douglasville
Quote: Georgia; a 36 MW facility in Portland-Hillsboro
Quote: Oregon; and a 22.5 MW facility in Denver-Parker Colorado.
Quote: Also planned are another 36 MW facility in Portland-Hillsboro and a 4.5 MW expansion adjacent to Flexential's existing operations in
Quote: Atlanta-Norcross Georgia.
Sarah: Flexential put $800 million behind more than 130 megawatts
Sarah: with 36 MW already under construction in Douglasville and another 36 MW in Hillsboro.
Sarah: This is what build-ahead looks like when 11 banks have actually signed the paperwork.
Matt: And those are not vapor campuses: 22.5 MW in Denver-Parker, plus the Portland and Atlanta expansions.
Matt: But after the PJM filing we just covered
Matt: every credit committee ought to be asking one rude little question—what supply is secured when those halls need to energize?
Sarah: GI Partners and MSIP backing a dedicated development vehicle matters.
Sarah: Flexential can fund projects from planning through delivery instead of reopening the capital markets for each site—but committed
Sarah: construction capital doesn’t manufacture transmission capacity.
Matt: Exactly. An oversubscribed facility tells you lenders believe the dirt, permits, and customer demand are real.
Matt: It does not give Atlanta, Portland, or Denver a free pass on the wires.
Host: If The Data Center Daily is part of your routine, please subscribe and leave us a review wherever you’re listening.
Host: Your review helps other people find the show.
Host: Mark these dates: PJM’s proposed supply cutoff for new 50 MW-plus loads is June 1, 2027.
Host: Bitdeer targets phase one commencement at the Tydal campus on December 31, 2026, followed by phase two on March 31, 2027.
Host: Links to every story are in the show notes, so take a look at the ones you’d like to explore further.
Host: That’s The Data Center Daily for today.
Host: This is a Lantern Podcast.