How early should ERCOT get to cut a data center’s power—and who gets a say? Quick catch-up before we dig in: SpaceXAI’s Memphis and Southaven expansion has faced power-permitting litigation, stormwater exposure and contractor liens. Reporting on November 3 identified eight ProEnergy converted aircraft-engine units installed at Southaven, each rated at 50 megawatts. Challenges to their state air permit are separate from the surviving Clean Air Act lawsuit over temporary turbines. This is The Data Center Daily. xAI’s gas permit fight, PJM after the midterms, and Equinix’s air-cooled Chicago-area build—first, let’s talk about who controls that Texas power switch. This story isn't over: SpaceXAI Colossus buildout in Memphis and Southaven. Follow us wherever you're listening, and the next chapter comes to you.
From Jackson Moreland at Briefs:
Pablo Vegas plans to seek authority from the Texas Legislature to require data centers to trim load earlier, including at level one conditions or even ahead of the first sign of scarcity. As he put it, "The practical realities of curtailing large amounts of customers like data centers and managing that from an operational point of view really requires us to think about pulling that up a little bit earlier into the process."
ERCOT has to reach the second rung of a three-alarm emergency before calling for data center cuts under the current emergency rules. Pablo Vegas wants that trigger earlier. Give the operators some runway before they're juggling gigawatts. He's seeking legislative authority, so no new switch has been handed over yet. Separately, SB6 requires large-load customers to cut consumption with 24 hours' notice; ERCOT hasn't directed a curtailment under it. And Vegas says hyperscalers are on board. Lovely—now turn that goodwill into a response the control room can count on: how much load drops, and how fast? Vegas says data centers voluntarily eased demand last winter, and puts the coming winter's available relief in the low single-digit gigawatts. That's meaningful scale. Moving the trigger ahead of an emergency deserves a serious hearing—with clear rules for when those cuts start.
Here's Southern Environmental Law Center:
On Tuesday, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality Permit Board doubled down on the faulty air permit it issued to xAI for its Colossus Gas Plant in Southaven, Mississippi. The Board’s ruling, which came after an evidentiary hearing in Jackson, Mississippi, ignores clear problems with the permit that leave communities in North Mississippi and South Memphis at increased risk from harmful air pollution.
Forty-one gas turbines in Southaven, supporting xAI’s Memphis-and-Southaven campus, including Colossus 2. Calling that your own power supply doesn’t make the neighbors’ air somebody else’s problem. Mississippi’s permit board upheld xAI’s state air permit Tuesday after a two-day evidentiary hearing. The Southaven fight still has two tracks: that state decision stands; the separate Clean Air Act lawsuit remains unresolved. And under Mississippi’s rules, the first appeal goes back to the board that issued the permit in March. Same desk, second look. Residents testified about health concerns; the board stuck with its approval. SELC, representing the community groups challenging the permit, calls it unlawfully flawed—that’s the challengers’ position, not a court finding. My read: Tuesday gives xAI a state-permit win, but treating it as an all-clear would be getting well ahead of the legal record.
Latitude Media, with Maeve Allsup:
PJM’s Interim Resource Adequacy Service proposal, or IRAS, included a pathway for large loads to connect to the grid if they agreed to curtail during grid emergencies. Under that framework, bringing the capacity needed to serve them would have allowed customers to avoid curtailment. But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected those central elements in October, finding that parts of the proposal infringed on state authority over retail electricity service.
PJM developers have a tougher negotiating table after the midterms. Latitude Media reports incoming officials campaigned on energy affordability and data center guardrails—and now states get to help decide which new loads face curtailment. Try selling priority service into that room. The mechanics matter: in October, FERC rejected central parts of PJM’s Interim Resource Adequacy Service proposal over state authority. It would've let large loads connect subject to emergency curtailment, with a route to avoid that curtailment by bringing the capacity needed to serve them. And rejecting that route still leaves a bill problem. Latitude reports concerns that higher capacity prices could stick around longer—good for existing generators, painful for ratepayers. An affordability campaign doesn't magically produce another power plant. Right. The election strengthens the mandate for guardrails; it doesn't settle the connection rules. For a developer, curtailment terms now deserve serious attention before promising a tenant firm power on a firm date.
From Equinix:
Equinix has opened CH5, its sixth data center in the Chicago metro area, backed by an initial US$215 million investment and designed to provide more than 190,000 square feet of colocation space at full buildout. - CH5 features advanced air-cooling technology that requires no routine water consumption for cooling operations, supporting a more resource-efficient approach to digital infrastructure.
Equinix says its newly opened CH5 in Elk Grove Village needs no routine water consumption for cooling. A data-center photo tour with an operating detail worth stopping on. The initial investment is $215 million, for Equinix’s sixth Chicago-area facility. More than 190,000 square feet of colocation space is expected at full buildout—keep that qualifier attached to the floor space. And keep “for cooling” attached to the water claim. Credit the air-cooled design for reducing local water demand; don't stretch that into a water-free campus. Same care with the jobs: roughly 150 during construction, with up to 50 permanent direct employees expected. The construction crew and the operating staff deserve separate columns.
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Links to every story are in the show notes, so take a look at the ones you’d like to explore further. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you tomorrow. That’s The Data Center Daily for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.