
Data Center Cost Fights Hit Virginia, New Mexico and Senate — September 21, 2026
The Data Center DailyShow Notes
Virginia data center regulation moved forward as Gov. Abigail Spanberger proposed transparency, cost-allocation and environmental rules, while Project Jupiter got a New Mexico court green light and the Senate’s federal ratepayer fix stalled. The buildout is shifting from megawatts to who pays.
In this episode: Top stories: 1. Spanberger presents slate of data center regulation proposals, puts first directives in motion | Headlines | insidenova.com — InsideNoVa https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/spanberger-presents-slate-of-data-center-regulation-proposals-puts-first-directives-in-motion/article_1982e0ad-0989-4b13-ad3a-9c20f3f052df.html 2. New Mexico Supreme Court allows Project Jupiter permit proceedings to advance | Project Jupiter Data Center News | The Las Cruces New Mexican | santafenewmexican.com — Santa Fe New Mexican https://www.santafenewmexican.com/las_cruces/project_jupiter/new-mexico-supreme-court-allows-project-jupiter-permit-proceedings-to-advance/article_c8d6f21a-dfd0-42f3-b789-f7032fb2205b.html 3. Data Center Electricity Bill Dies in Senate: Who Pays for AI Grid Upgrades? — Karmactive https://www.karmactive.com/data-center-electricity-bill-ai-grid-costs-senate/ 4. Liberty files new “large load” rate for massive power users | Newstalk KZRG — Newstalk KZRG https://www.newstalkkzrg.com/2026/09/18/liberty-files-new-large-load-rate-for-massive-power-users/ 5. Equinix Plans $5B-$7B Annual Data Center Buildout as AI Demand Accelerates - The Lincolnian Online — The Lincolnian Online https://www.thelincolnianonline.com/2026/09/19/equinix-plans-5b-7b-annual-data-center-buildout-as-ai-demand-accelerates.html
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.