Industry News
The projects, technology, and economic forces shaping America's electrical workforce.
Anne Arundel Stopped Taking Data Center Applications and Cut the Tax Break
The Maryland county's council voted 7-0 to bar new data center filings until January 2028 and repeal the personal property tax reduction. Permitted work continues.
AmpScouts Editorial · 10/13/2026 · 2 min read
Oregon Is Cutting Hillsboro's Data Center Land From 6,600 Acres to 608
The Hillsboro City Council advanced zoning that caps standalone data centers at 608 acres, and a final vote is set for Oct. 20.
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One Environmental Study Now Gates Every 50-Megawatt Data Center in New York
New York's Public Service Commission takes comment on the draft scope through October 20. Until the study is finished, DEC holds new data center permit applications in abeyance.
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Texas Froze Data Center Permits. The Questionnaires Are Due October 12.
Every data center of 25 megawatts or more in the ERCOT interconnection queue must file answers by October 12, and no Texas agency will advance data center approvals until the audits are reviewed.
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A Court Voided Imperial County's Data Center Pause. It Passed a New One.
Imperial County repealed Ordinances 1616 and 1618 under a court writ on October 6, then adopted a new 45-day urgency moratorium on data center approvals the same day, 5-0.
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Blackstart Is Buying IBM's Almaden Campus and Its 25-Megawatt Substation
The San Jose site carries seven buildings, more than 500,000 square feet, and a substation already in the ground that the buyer intends to expand.
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Casa Grande Cleared a 954-Acre Data Center Under Its New Permit Rules
Arizona's first test of Casa Grande's data center ordinance ended in approval, with a water cap, a battery storage condition and on-site generation written into the permit.
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Alabama's 150-Megawatt Rule Took Effect. Data Center Contracts Changed.
Senate Bill 270 now requires any Alabama data center drawing 150 megawatts or more to cover its own incremental power costs, with the Public Service Commission reviewing every contract.
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Lambda Picks Oklahoma for a Data Center With Up to 1,000 Construction Jobs
The AI cloud company will build at MidAmerica Industrial Park and fund the utility infrastructure itself. It has not disclosed the site's electrical capacity.
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Arkansas's Biggest County Passed Data Center Rules. Its Judge Vetoed Them.
Ordinance 26-I-56B would require an electrical load analysis and a conditional use permit before a data center breaks ground. Nine of 15 justices can override the veto in October.
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Alabama's 210-Megawatt Delta Forge 2 Starts Construction in October
Applied Digital named Brookwood, Alabama as the site of its fifth AI campus, and Tuscaloosa County approved a 20-year incentive package covering 210 megawatts of contracted critical load.
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FERC Blocked ComEd From Canceling a 1.8-Gigawatt Data Center's Contract
The Sept. 22 order leaves a $20 billion, 795-acre Joliet campus on contract for grid capacity while a federal court decides whether a $1 letter of credit satisfied its terms.
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California Signed Seven Data Center Laws. Grid Costs Now Fall on Operators.
SB 886 makes 25-MW data centers pay for the transmission upgrades they trigger, with a CPUC tariff due by July 1, 2027.
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Spotsylvania Planners Back a 555-Acre, $8 Billion Data Center Campus
A 4-2 vote sends the Crossroads Technology Campus, with its own substations and backup generators, to the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors for a final decision.
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Nevada Data Centers Must Now Pay School Taxes to Get a Tax Break
Executive Order 2026-005 bars abatement applications unless developers pay the school tax in full and sign a binding water, utility-cost and grid commitment.
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Virginia's Data Center Order Is Signed. The 25-MW Local Vote Needs Lawmakers.
Executive Order 22 bans state NDAs and orders a backup-generator review now; local approval above 25 megawatts and new cost rules go to the 2027 General Assembly.
2 min read
Pennsylvania's New 2-Gigawatt Data Center Campus Skips the Grid Entirely
Aligned broke ground on a three-building, 2-GW campus at the retired Bruce Mansfield coal site in Shippingport, fed by on-site gas generation instead of a PJM interconnection.
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House Bill Ties Highway Funds to Making 100-MW Loads Pay Their Own Way
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam introduced four data center bills Sept. 8. H.R. 10322 would withhold a state's entire federal highway apportionment if it skips a large-load cost-recovery standard.
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Microsoft Is Targeting 26 More Gigawatts of Data Center Capacity
A reported plan to more than triple the company's footprint by 2032 would require about a gigawatt of new electrical capacity every quarter for six straight years.
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Massachusetts Now Lets Any Town Veto a Data Center Over 25 Megawatts
Executive Order 658 blocks state permits for projects above 25 megawatts until the host community approves the project and signs a benefits agreement.
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New York Paused Data Center Permits at 50 MW. Two Rules Land Sept. 12.
Executive Order 62 froze discretionary DEC permits for data centers of 50 megawatts or more, and the state's community investment and interconnection frameworks are due September 12.
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Virginia Starts Collecting Its Data Center Power Tax This Month
The commonwealth's first electricity consumption tax on data centers lands on operating cost, not on the electrical equipment — and the exemption covering substations and switchgear survived.
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Data Center Starts Hit $81.5B in Six Months as Costs Per Foot Jump
Half-year construction starts already exceed all of 2025, the cost per square foot is up 38 percent, and the escalation is concentrated in the electrical package.
4 min read
AI Doesn't Just Need Engineers. It Needs Electricians.
Every model trained and every query served depends on physical power infrastructure that skilled electrical professionals design, build, and maintain.
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Where Data Center Construction Is Creating Electrical Jobs
Northern Virginia, Central Ohio, Phoenix, and North Texas are absorbing electrical labor faster than local pipelines can supply it.
3 min read