FERC Sends PJM's Data Center Backstop Back; Oracle Invokes Force Majeure on Stargate's Jupiter — October 01, 2026
The Data Center DailyShow Notes
FERC only partly approved PJM's 6.8 GW reliability backstop, and PJM has delayed the auction, while Oracle served a force majeure notice on its 2.45 GW Project Jupiter campus over gas pipeline delays. Plus a Korea-US-owned 6.47 GW gas campus in South Texas, Valar's 456-reactor Utah proposal, and Raskin's probe of data center NDAs.
In this episode: 1. FERC chair slams PJM ‘mess’ as country’s largest grid operator delays power auction | Utility Dive — Ethan Howland https://www.utilitydive.com/news/pjm-delays-backstop-procurement-ferc-data-center/831751/ 2. Stargate : face à la fronde de l’opinion, Oracle sort le parachute — Axel Kannenberg https://www.heise.de/en/news/Massive-AI-data-center-delayed-Oracle-wants-deferral-of-rent-payments-11470336.html 3. The United States Department of Commerce and the Government of the Republic of Korea Announce Strategic Investment in Project Star, a $22.3 billion Energy Infrastructure Campus in Encinal, Texas, being jointly developed by Related Companies and NextEra Energy, in partnership with Lewis Energy Group — NextEra Energy, Inc., Lewis Energy Group, Related Digital https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-united-states-department-of-commerce-and-the-government-of-the-republic-of-korea-announce-strategic-investment-in-project-star-a-22-3-billion-energy-infrastructure-campus-in-encinal-texas-being-jointly-developed-by-related-302895079.html 4. A startup wants to build a massive nuclear-powered data center on public land in Utah - VPM — VPM https://www.vpm.org/npr-story/a-startup-wants-to-build-a-massive-nuclear-powered-data-center-on-public-land-in-utah/ 5. Rep. Jamie Raskin investigates Big Tech data center NDA deals — Quartz https://qz.com/raskin-amazon-google-meta-oracle-data-center-ndas-093026
Follow and rate The Data Center Daily on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Feedback? Email [email protected]
More from The Data Center Daily
Entergy Arkansas and Google amend their West Memphis power deal to resolve an accounting fight over ratepayer charges while adding a 440 MW solar PPA, 1.4 GWh of batteries and new transmission. Also: Musk's 10 GW compute claim for SpaceXAI, TCEQ pulling its permit portal offline, and $35 billion of Chinese orders for an Nvidia workstation GPU.
PJM filed a FERC study agreement to evaluate roughly 9.6 GW of new data center load and 10.2 GW of generation at SB Energy's Flagship site in Pike County, Ohio, outside its interconnection queue. Also: AEP, X-energy and Amazon eye 960 MW of Xe-100 reactors in Indiana, Texas's data center permit freeze draws scrutiny, and Memphis deadlocks on a moratorium.
NiSource signs a 20-year, 1,100 MW supply deal with Microsoft, funded by Microsoft, and NERC's computational-load standards clear their final ballot. Plus AEP's $4 billion fuel cell plant for Google in Wyoming and a 7.5 GW gas campus in a Utah water filing.
Oregon's governor has paused air and water permits for data centers until July 2027, and DOE issued a heat-driven emergency order for PJM. Plus FERC's split vote on Duke's large-load transmission rules and Microsoft's multi-gigawatt plan for its Maia inference chips.
Google lands two power paths. Indiana regulators approved AES Indiana's $1.3 billion solar, storage and wires plan for its 390 MW Monrovia campus, the first test of the state's 80% large-load cost law. Separately, Constellation will spend $4.3 billion uprating 11 PJM reactors by 890 MW.