Good morning. The Energy Department authorized emergency power dispatch across a 17-state grid on Sunday, FERC handed PJM a September deadline on governance, and the cost of expanding the system keeps climbing. The heat is doing the arguing this week.
Top Stories
DOE ORDERS EMERGENCY POWER FOR A 17-STATE GRID
Reuters
The Energy Department authorized Southwest Power Pool to dispatch idle generation after the operator warned emergency conditions could persist, with its western region under a conservative operations advisory through August 1.
THE GRID BUILDOUT GETS A LOT MORE EXPENSIVE
The Wall Street Journal
Equipment backlogs, tariffs, permitting delays and yearslong interconnection waits are raising the price of expanding the power system just as demand accelerates.
ENERGY GRANTS CANCELED OVER STATE POLITICS
Associated Press
Court filings acknowledge that hundreds of clean-energy awards were terminated based on the political identity of recipient states, all 16 of which backed Kamala Harris in 2024.
NRC MOVES TO SCRAP A 50-YEAR RADIATION-SAFETY RULE
Associated Press
The commission is proposing to eliminate the practice of keeping radiation exposure as low as reasonably achievable while Washington pushes to accelerate nuclear development.
COAL USE HIT ANOTHER RECORD
Forbes
Global coal consumption reached a new high in 2025 even as coal-fired generation declined, exposing the widening divide between Asian demand and falling use in Europe and the United States.
Power & Grid
FERC GIVES PJM UNTIL SEPTEMBER
Utility Dive
Federal regulators are threatening to impose governance reforms unless the country's largest grid operator strengthens board independence and gives states more influence.
NEW YORK'S NEW POWER LINE RETURNS AFTER 19 DAYS DOWN
Montreal Gazette
The Champlain Hudson Power Express is back in service after an extended outage gave the new Quebec-to-New York link an unexpectedly rough opening.
INDIANA'S SOLAR BOOM MEETS THE FENCE LINE
Canary Media
The state ranked third nationally for new solar installations last year, but rapid rural development is fueling opposition and testing whether developers can earn local trust.
HEAT AND AI LOADS PUSH OLD GRIDS TO THE LIMIT
The Detroit News
Extreme temperatures and fast-rising electricity demand from data centers are exposing the thin margins and aging equipment beneath the U.S. power system.
NEXTERA WANTS TO BECOME AI'S POWER COMPANY
E&E News
The country's largest utility owner is positioning its generation and infrastructure portfolio to capture the electricity demand created by the AI buildout.
Data Centers
THE OFF-GRID DATA-CENTER DREAM HITS REALITY
Axios
Local backlash and reliability concerns are complicating the idea that AI developers can bypass grid bottlenecks by building huge campuses with their own power supplies.
THE AI DATA CENTER THAT NEVER STOPS HUMMING
Tom's Hardware
Michigan residents are suing over round-the-clock industrial noise after ordinance violations and fines, while the operator offers to buy homes near the facility.
NEW MEXICO REJECTS THE PIPELINE FOR ORACLE'S 2.5-GW CAMPUS
Source New Mexico
Regulators denied a 17-mile gas line meant to serve Project Jupiter, citing water use, emissions and thin state revenue, the second denial for a project Oracle says remains on schedule.
PG&E'S DATA-CENTER QUEUE SWINGS TO 12.7 GW
Utility Dive
The pipeline more than doubled in a quarter after earlier projects dropped out, but only 490 MW has signed interconnection agreements, a reminder of how little of an announced queue is firm.
BIG TECH'S $100 MILLION POLITICAL MACHINE
POLITICO Magazine
The operatives behind Leading the Future are turning AI regulation into an election issue, with industry money aimed squarely at candidates willing to slow the buildout.
Stat of the Day
$7.6B
Clean-energy grants canceled across 16 states
Hundreds of awards pulled from states that voted against the administration, a rationale acknowledged in the government's own court filings.
Associated Press ↗