Inside Virginia's fight over curtailing data-center load — and its diesel backups

Virginia’s fight over how new data-center load could be curtailed has a new front. On September 28, 2026, a coalition of more than 50 nonprofit and community groups led by the Piedmont Environmental Council asked the State Corporation Commission to broaden a working group that so far pairs the regulator with the Data Center Coalition. That working group grew out of a June 30, 2026 SCC–DCC letter to PJM proposing model interruptible tariffs and emergency load-reduction rules. The coalition’s central objection is that curtailment could push data centers onto their diesel backup fleets, and it wants air regulators, consumer counsel, and local governments at the table.

• DTE files 2026 IRP seeking two gas plants and citing 2.4 GW of new load – DTE Electric’s Michigan PSC filing (Case U-22168) requests Certificates of Necessity for a ~1,400 MW Livingston County CCGT ($3.9B) and a ~700 MW Monroe County CCGT ($2.5B), and states its plan includes 2.4 GW of new customer load.
• India orders 112 captive coal stations to maximize output through year-end – A September 25, 2026 Ministry of Power Section 11 order directs captive coal plants of 50 MW and above to run at maximum available capacity and sell surplus on the power exchanges from October 1 through December 31, 2026.
• Rajasthan’s AI portal commits to India-based hosting under a state compute policy – The ai.rajasthan.gov.in privacy policy states data is hosted on servers within India under MeitY guidelines, and the state’s AI/ML Policy 2026 offers a 1% interest subvention for AI data centres over five years.