California Data Center Intel

Recent California data center news

• Apr 25, 2026

  High oil prices could boost renewables, says Energy Vault CEO

  Energy Vault CEO Robert Piconi says sustained high oil prices could make renewable energy and storage solutions more attractive, and the company is seeing a sharp increase in inquiries and firm orders.

  • Main announcement/action: Energy Vault reports a sharp increase in inquiries and firm orders for its battery and long-duration storage solutions, driven by sustained high oil prices, electricity price volatility and an exponential surge in demand from AI and data centres; customers are moving from conceptual interest to utility-scale execution for medium- and long-duration storage.
  • Background and concrete details: Energy Vault listed on the NYSE via a SPAC in 2022, raised more than $200 million (CHF156 million) as a startup and ~$236 million through the SPAC transaction; reported $146 million revenue the year it listed and nearly $350 million the following year before revenues later fell to approximately $50 million; the company now owns and operates two plants with two additional plants under construction, and signed a 10.5-year contract with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (2024) to provide up to 48 hours of green-hydrogen backup power.
• Apr 25, 2026

  ‘Sustained high oil prices can make renewable energy and storage solutions more attractive’

  Energy Vault CEO Robert Piconi says sustained high oil prices are increasing commercial demand for renewable energy storage and accelerating sales activity.

  • Main announcement/action: Energy Vault reports a sharp increase in inquiries and firm orders for its Battery Energy Storage System solutions across American and European markets, driven by sustained high oil prices, electricity price volatility, and rising electricity demand from AI and data centres; the company now owns and operates two plants with two additional plants under construction, and employs 24 people in Switzerland.
  • Background/details: Energy Vault listed via a SPAC in 2022, raising approximately $236 million as part of the transaction (building on an earlier startup raise of more than $200 million (CHF156 million)); notable contracts and projects include a 10.5-year contract with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to provide up to 48 hours of green-hydrogen backup power, the Rudong facility opened in 2023 in China, a delivered battery hub for Schindler in Switzerland, and an agreement with Energie Wettingen AG; the company expanded from gravity storage into battery and green hydrogen and moved toward a build-own-operate model after assessing value-chain margins.
• Apr 24, 2026

  Clean and green: Oregon Treasurer talks environmental investments

  Oregon State Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner reiterated the state’s climate-focused investment policies, including the Climate Resilience Investment Act (CRIA) passed in 2025.

  • Main announcement/action: Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner described the Climate Resilience Investment Act (CRIA, passed 2025) which requires continued fiduciary responsibility, directs the Treasury to pursue climate-positive investing, and mandates biennial transparency reporting (first report due January 2027). She also cited the state’s Net Zero plan (issued 2024) with targets to reduce portfolio emissions intensity by 60% by 2035 and reach net zero by 2050, and confirmed the Treasury doubled climate-positive real asset investments from $1.2 billion to $2.4 billion.
  • Background and details referenced: This segment reports on existing policy rather than announcing a new law (CRIA passed in 2025). Steiner and Sierra Club Oregon Director Damon Motz-Storey discussed implementation details and performance metrics: climate-positive investments returned 20% on average over the past five years versus 12% for carbon-intensive real assets; collaborators mentioned include the Sierra Club, Oregon Department of Energy, and a Portland company Panthalassa exploring wave-energy co-located servers for AI workloads.
• Apr 24, 2026

  Abe Salander: Real Estate and Commercial Strategies for Monetizing Dark Fiber

  LOGIX Fiber Networks announced a major expansion in Texas targeting massive bandwidth demands from data centers under construction in South Dallas and Bastrop County.

  • Main announcement and market drivers: LOGIX Fiber Networks is expanding routes in South Dallas and Bastrop County, Texas to serve the AI-driven hyperscale data center boom, while the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program is directing billions of dollars toward last-mile broadband buildout that is increasing demand for middle-mile fiber capacity. The article explains common monetization instruments — IRUs (typically 20–30 year terms) and dark fiber leases (typically 5–10 year terms) — and discusses pricing approaches such as per-strand, per-route, and capacity-based models.

  • Legal, operational, and regulatory context: Utilities must analyze underlying easement and fee title scope, sublicensing authority, and whether landowner consents or supplemental easements are required; coordinate access, maintenance, colocation, and relocation with electric operations; and complete a pre-transaction regulatory review (examples: CPUC approvals in California, FERC accounting/Section 203 review for FERC-jurisdictional assets). The piece is an expert opinion by Abe Salander (real estate counsel) exclusive to Broadband Breakfast.

• Apr 24, 2026

  The POWER Interview: How the Oil and Gas Industry is Advancing Geothermal

  XGS Energy has announced a 115-MW development deal with California Community Power and is developing a 150-MW, $1.2-billion partnership with Meta in New Mexico.

  • Main announcement: XGS signed a 115 MW development agreement with California Community Power granting those members first rights to the electricity produced, and a 150-MW partnership with Meta described as a $1.2-billion capital project in New Mexico; the Meta project is two-phased and both phases are expected to be operational by 2030, and will supply Meta’s data center operations via the PNM utility grid.
  • Background and validation: XGS completed a commercial demonstration of its water-independent closed-loop system at the Coso geothermal field running continuously for more than 3,000 hours using its Thermal Reach Enhancement (TRE) and oil-and-gas-derived drilling and casing technologies; the article also cites an IEA finding that geothermal financing reached nearly $2.2 billion last year (up from $22 million in 2018) and references federal incentives (clean energy tax credits retained in the 2025 U.S. budget and DOE’s Enhanced Geothermal Shot).
• Apr 23, 2026

  ‘Beneficiary Pays’ Model Gains Traction With Lawmakers

  Rep. Julie Fedorchak said Congress could require companies driving demand for new transmission lines to pay for them.

  • Main announcement: Rep. Julie Fedorchak (R-N.D.) proposed that companies driving demand for new transmission lines should pay for those lines, and Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) backed cost allocation with a call for clear criteria for distributing costs.
  • Details & context: Fedorchak outlined a three-step approach: stabilize the grid by slowing plant retirements, optimize existing transmission with higher-capacity lines, and enact permitting reform for long-term expansion; Peters supported improved transmission planning but opposed keeping expired plants online, urging private-sector replacement of retired generation. Congress is reported to be close to a deal and lawmakers warned the legislative window may be limited and will require bipartisan support.
• Apr 23, 2026

  Data Center Industry Slammed Over Messaging

  Rep. Jay Obernolte urged the data center industry to improve public communications to address growing political resistance over energy use, water consumption, and local impacts.

  • Main announcement: At the Data Center World conference (reported April 23, 2026), Rep. Jay Obernolte called on the tech industry and data center operators to proactively communicate with communities—saying firms should tell residents “we’re not raising rates, we want to be good neighbors,” rely on trusted third parties for credibility, and ensure costs from new local generation don’t get passed on to ratepayers. He also recommended the federal government focus on streamlining permitting and transmission while leaving siting to local authorities.
  • Background and details: Obernolte argued public concern (not facts) is driving congressional debate; stated large data center projects are typically backed by private investment and may include dedicated energy generation that can sell excess energy back to the grid (reducing rates). He noted a shift in cooling tech from evaporative cooling to recirculating systems and said future designs are expected to eliminate water use entirely. He expressed hesitation to override local siting decisions.
• Apr 23, 2026

  California Agency Urged to Protect Public Health, Environment From Data Center Diesel Generators

  Environmental justice and community groups filed a petition with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District seeking stronger protections and transparency for diesel backup generators operated by data centers across the Bay Area.

  • Main action: The petition requests the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to require additional reporting on diesel backup generator operations and emissions, close permitting loopholes, treat data centers as a single source of pollution rather than permitting each generator separately, and set a clean energy standard that would push replacement of diesel generators with clean, zero-emission technologies (e.g., battery storage). The petition was filed on April 22, 2026 by groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, with quotations from campaigners Meya Saenz Zagar, Masheika Allgood, Ellina Yin, and Danny Cendejas.

  • Background/details: The filing highlights concrete scale and public health concerns: some data center sites can have up to 50 generators, 73 data centers in nine square miles in one Santa Clara area, Bay Area baseline fine particle pollution at 140% of the level allowed by the EPA, and San Jose leveraging 2,000 megawatts of new transmission capacity. The Center for Biological Diversity is noted as a national nonprofit with more than 1.8 million members. The petition asks for specific reporting, permitting fixes, and a transition timeline toward battery storage and other zero-emission backup solutions.

• Apr 23, 2026

  Meta Signs 1 GW Energy Storage Deal to Power Data Centers

  Meta announced an agreement to reserve ultra-long-duration energy storage capacity from Noon Energy.

  • Main announcement: Meta has reserved up to 100 GWh of energy storage capacity and will secure up to 1 GW of storage capacity under the agreement with Noon Energy, with an initial 25 MW project scheduled for completion by 2028; after that project is complete, Noon will begin delivering systems under the 1 GW supply agreement.
  • Background and details: Noon Energy (founded 2018, California-based) develops 100+ hour ultra-long-duration storage using solid oxide fuel cell-based systems; Noon has raised more than $45 million in venture capital and government grants from investors including At One Ventures, Emerson Collective, Clean Energy Ventures, Aramco Ventures, Prime Impact Fund, Elemental Impact, Sabanci Climate Ventures, D3 Jubilee, and the California Energy Commission.
• Apr 22, 2026

  Long Wait Times Push Data Centers Away From Renewables

  Mike Sloan, CEO at Synergetic LLC, said at Data Center World that data center developers are often unable to rely solely on wind and solar due to long construction and interconnection timelines.

  • Main point: Sloan highlighted increasing interconnection timelines across U.S. power markets (with California cited as approaching nine years), saying hyperscale operators prioritize speed to deployment and thus often favor natural gas because it can be deployed faster.
  • Details/background: Sloan recommended developers ‘go to the source’ by siting projects in regions with abundant local energy resources (e.g., south-central United States, including parts of Texas); he described solutions like overbuilding wind and solar plus battery storage and hydrogen, and using geological features such as salt caverns for large-scale storage — but noted these hybrid models require significant planning and coordination.