Big AI campuses are racing ahead. The rules meant to connect them are still catching up. Quick catch-up before we dig in: OpenAI’s infrastructure strategy is shifting from pure rental to a mix of owned buildouts, partner campuses, and supplier-backed financing. At SB Energy’s PORTS Technology Campus in Ohio, NVIDIA has provided credit support for an OpenAI-linked buildout of about 4.25 gigawatts of IT load, with guarantees capped at $105 billion. The open question is where the demand and capacity risk lands. This is The Data Center Daily. New reporting rules, delayed grid tariffs, local permit fights—and an AI power deal with plenty still missing. Sarah, start us in New Jersey. For updates on this story — OpenAI Stargate build-versus-rent strategy — tap follow so the next episode lands in your feed. Here's India-West:
New Jersey data centers will face new reporting requirements for their water and energy use under a law sponsored by state Sen. Raj Mukherji and Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz. Governor Mikie Sherrill signed the bipartisan legislation, S-3379, August 27. Mukherji, a Democrat representing Hudson County, said the requirements are important as large data centers expand and place greater demands on the state’s energy and water resources.
New Jersey’s S-3379 was signed August 27, making water and energy part of a state reporting mandate. Every six months for three years, operators report electricity, cooling fuels, on-site power, backups, and permits—the plumbing behind the power number. Good. Mukherji is saying ratepayers shouldn’t bankroll somebody else’s enormous load, and the state wants the utility agreement and backup generation on paper. No more calling a campus “efficient” while the diesel and water tabs live offstage. There’s one timing wrinkle: established facilities have three months after implementation for their first report; newer operations have six. Better than voluntary ESG gloss, but disclosure comes after the meter has already started spinning. Nevada’s Basin 162 ban is a sharp contrast: one state shuts the door over water, while New Jersey makes operators show the receipts. Different lever, same message—water is now part of the data-center permit fight. Amyra Mardhani, writing in Enverus:
The pipeline of large loads waiting to come online is concentrated in regions that are seeking more time to finalize their tariff frameworks. PJM and the MISO account for most of the identified high-confidence large load, but neither has a finished rulebook. SPP, the only region with FERC-approved large-load tariffs that the commission has pointed to as a model, has comparatively little identified capacity.
All six FERC-jurisdictional grid operators want until November to write the rules for giant new loads. PJM and MISO hold most of the high-confidence pipeline, and neither has a tariff to hand a project yet. FERC gave them 60 days after its June 18 orders to amend or defend those tariffs, warning that extensions would not be automatic. Now they’re all back asking for 90 more days. Efficient. Meanwhile, SPP has the FERC-approved model tariff—and comparatively little load. PJM and MISO have the projects, but not the finished rules. That’s a planning problem with a very expensive electric bill attached. New Jersey shows states are starting to set their own compliance gates around data-center demand. The organized markets are still negotiating who pays before they can even price the interconnection. Rocky Mountain Voice, with Shaina Cole:
Project Taurus would put an artificial intelligence data center in the old Intel chip plant at 1565 High Tech Way, off Garden of the Gods Road on the city’s northwest side, next to the roughly 200 homes of Chelsea Glen. The site is zoned industrial. Raeden wants to retrofit the existing building rather than pour a new one, a model the company calls adaptive reuse.
I’ll give Jason Green this: he showed up. Fourteen-plus hours of Planning Commission testimony, more than 100 opponents signed up, and Raeden’s president is still taking questions before the Sept. 17 Council vote. Project Taurus is capped at 50 megawatts, inside the old Intel plant on High Tech Way. Adaptive reuse means the Council is looking at a real building, a defined ceiling, and conditions—not an artist’s rendering with a heroic power number. Showing up is the entry fee, though. Chelsea Glen has roughly 200 homes next door, and “government and security” is awfully foggy as a tenant description when neighbors are asking about noise, water, and power. Colorado Springs gets its public vote at 9 a.m. on Sept. 17. A 50-megawatt retrofit has to get past a 6-to-2 commission record and a Council appeal. That’s local accountability in action. From OpenAI:
OpenAI has entered into an agreement to secure approximately 8 gigawatts-IT at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio, working with SB Energy, NVIDIA, and the U.S. Department of Energy. We want to develop this project as a partner to Pike County—paying its project-specific energy and infrastructure costs, using water responsibly, creating opportunities for local workers and businesses, and making long-term investments shaped by the community.
OpenAI describes PORTS-Pike as an agreement for approximately 8 gigawatts of IT load. So the build-versus-rent question now comes with eight very large zeros attached. Securing capacity doesn’t mean a signed PPA, much less eight gigawatts humming in Pike County. The first 800 megawatts is expected in 2028—so show me the generation, the transmission plan, and who gets the bill before we celebrate 2032. OpenAI is offering 35,000 construction jobs across six years, 2,500 operating jobs, and a $40 million community fund matching SB Energy’s earlier $40 million commitment. Serious local money—but it’s arriving as PJM and MISO are still asking FERC for a tariff-rule extension to November. NVIDIA is in this with SB Energy and DOE, not just selling GPUs from a safe distance. Eight gigawatts-IT is a campus commitment; the power system still has to agree to host it. Since AI is reshaping the infrastructure conversation, you may also enjoy AI Daily Briefing: weekday AI news for engineers, founders, and investors. It breaks down real capabilities versus demo hype, fast. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
We’re watching for New Jersey data center owners’ first water and energy reports, due within six months of the law taking effect—or within three months for facilities operating at least a year. We’ll also track FERC’s response to six ISO/RTO extension requests, with large-load tariff filings pushed to November, and Colorado Springs City Council’s Sept. 17 Project Taurus vote at 9 a.m. at the Pikes Peak Center.
Links to every story are in the show notes, so take a look at whatever caught your attention. That’s The Data Center Daily for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.