California Data Center Intel

Recent California data center news

• Jan 23, 2026

  Anna’s Archive Multiple Domains Blocked After Spotify Scraping, Court Orders Cloudflare, NIXI to Comply

  Spotify and major record labels (Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group) have sued the anonymous operators of Anna’s Archive and obtained a broad temporary restraining order to block Anna’s Archive domains.

  • Main action: The plaintiffs secured a temporary restraining order (issued Jan 16, 2026) from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York directing domain registries, registrars, hosting and internet service providers (including Cloudflare and the Public Interest Registry) to block access to annas-archive.org, annas-archive.li, and annas-archive.se, disable nameservers, prevent transfers, preserve evidence, and avoid notifying Anna’s Archive until blocking is implemented; the court set a hearing requiring Anna’s Archive to appear on January 16, 2026.
  • Background and details: The complaint alleges Anna’s Archive scraped over 86 million music files (~99.6% of Spotify’s listening data) and relied on Cloudflare and other US-based services for reverse proxying; registries/registrars named to implement blocking include NIXI, Tucows, Hosting Concepts BV, and proxy URLs remain accessible though downloading of Spotify-related data has been disabled. The article also references a related 2024 La Liga order that led to blanket blocking of Cloudflare and legal notices demanding payments of €261 to €450 to identified users.
• Jan 23, 2026

  Trienens Institute seeks solutions amid renewable energy transition

  The Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern University is described as pursuing multi-pillar, ongoing research into clean hydrogen, ammonia-based transport, reversible electrochemical cells, solar generation, grid-scale storage, and carbon capture; this article reports on existing projects and research directions rather than announcing a one-time new policy or single major deal.

  • Main action: The institute (with more than 120 faculty affiliates) is organized around five research pillars: Generate, Store, Deploy, Transform, Capture, and is advancing projects including clean hydrogen production, ammonia dissociation for transport, reversible electrochemical cells, and plasma-catalyzed ammonia formation (collaboration between Profs. Sossina Haile and Dayne Swearer).
  • Background/details: The article cites specific research activities and figures: the U.S. data center electricity use is cited as roughly 120 terawatt-hours per year, the Dunand group is investigating a high-temperature fuel cell for hydrogen/electricity generation, and cross-disciplinary work (engineering, chemistry, sociology, policy) is emphasized as ongoing rather than newly launched.
• Jan 22, 2026 · Tech Xplore

  Engineers invent wireless transceiver that rivals fiber-optic speed

  The University of California, Irvine has announced a silicon-chip wireless transceiver that achieves fiber-optic-rivaling speeds and is documented in two IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits papers.

  • Main announcement: The UC Irvine NCIC Labs team reports a bits-to-antenna transmitter and an antenna-to-bits receiver that together enable 120 Gbps end-to-end wireless links operating in the F-band (~140 GHz territory); the receiver was fabricated in 22-nanometer fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) and consumes 230 milliwatts. The work is presented in two IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits papers (DOI: 10.1109/jssc.2025.3648748 and DOI: 10.1109/jssc.2024.3523842).

  • Background and technical details: The transmitter removes the traditional DAC bottleneck by constructing signals directly in the RF domain using synchronized subtransmitters and RF-domain 64QAM; the receiver uses hierarchical analog demodulation to reduce digitization power. The team highlights potential deployment for ultrafast wireless links between server racks in data centers, standard semiconductor fabrication compatibility, and relevance to 6G/FutureG protocols.

• Jan 22, 2026

  CBRE’s 2026 Data Center Outlook: Demand Surges as Delivery Becomes the Constraint

  CBRE announced its 2026 U.S. data center outlook and confirmed the acquisition of Pearce Services (announced November 4, 2025), positioning the firm to address power and execution constraints in large-scale data center delivery.

  • Main announcement: CBRE’s outlook finds the U.S. data center market constrained by power delivery rather than land, capital, or connectivity; developers and occupiers now prioritize sites capable of supporting 300-MW-plus deliveries within 36 months, with preleasing expected in the mid-70% range and construction/interconnection timelines commonly extending 24–48 months for incremental generation or transmission upgrades.
  • Acquisition and execution detail: CBRE acquired Pearce Services (announced Nov 4, 2025) for approximately $1.2 billion in cash plus an earn-out up to $115 million; Pearce is forecast to generate > $660 million revenue and > $90 million EBITDA in 2026, and CBRE expects to produce > $350 million of Core EBITDA from its digital and power infrastructure services businesses in 2026; financial advisors included J.P. Morgan Securities and Wells Fargo, with legal advisers Sullivan & Cromwell (CBRE) and Ropes & Gray (Pearce/New Mountain Capital).
• Jan 22, 2026

  Can rising power demand boost renewables above policy obstacles in 2026?

  The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) set new July 4 construction deadlines and strict FEOC rules that curtail many Inflation Reduction Act tax credits and have immediate implications for project eligibility.

  • OBBBA actions and timelines: The OBBBA established a July 4 construction commencement deadline to qualify wind and solar projects for IRA production and investment tax credits; the FEOC rule went into effect Dec. 31, 2025 with Treasury guidance pending; the residential solar credit sunsetted at the end of 2025; commercial projects that commence construction by July 4 can qualify if placed in service by Dec. 31, 2030, while projects that do not commence construction by July 4 may still qualify if placed in service by Dec. 31, 2027.
  • Industry response and state actions: Developers (e.g., DSD Renewables) are triaging projects into mature / less-mature / at-risk buckets and cancelling or down-sizing projects that cannot meet deadlines; Treasury eliminated the 5% safe harbor test for >1.5 MW projects; states like Illinois (CRGA: 3 GW storage by 2030) and California (SB-254 transmission investment accelerator) are pursuing measures to speed transmission, interconnection and storage deployment; the Department of the Interior has issued stop-work orders and cancelled the environmental review for the 6.2-GW Esmeralda 7 project, and Dominion Energy has stated its 2.6 GW CVOW project will serve large data center demand.
• Jan 22, 2026

  Long-duration energy storage costs declining, European policymakers urged to make ‘strategic choice’  

  EPRI published a technical report for the LDES Council on 21 January presenting cost benchmarking that shows many long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies could see cost reductions averaging ~37% by 2030.

  • Main announcement: The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) released “Cost Benchmarking for Long Duration Energy Storage Solutions” (published 21 January) based on LDES Council member project data; it finds a projected average cost decline of ~37% by 2030, with examples including a 100MW 10-hour intraday electrochemical system costing US$220–572/kWh in 2025 and projected US$244–358/kWh by 2030, and a 10MW 100-hour (1,000MWh) multi-day system projected at US$26–38/kWh by 2030.
  • Background and related action: Industry groups (LDES Council, Energy Storage Europe and others) sent a letter to five senior European Commission figures (including Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič) urging the EU to embed LDES in planning, reform market frameworks, align capacity mechanisms, and deploy targeted investment instruments; the letter is accompanied by Energy Storage Europe’s 44-page position paper ‘Policy Options to Anticipate Europe’s Long-Duration Energy Storage Deployment’ and references existing procurement frameworks in California, Australian states, and the UK (Ofgem’s cap-and-floor scheme is presently being legally challenged by Zenobē).
• Jan 21, 2026

  Silicon Valley’s AI boom is an environmental time bomb

  Tina Landis (Liberation News) publishes an opinion piece arguing that Big Tech’s rapid expansion of AI-driven hyperscale data centers is creating severe, measurable environmental harms in the United States and globally.

  • Main claim & evidence: The article documents hyperscale data center environmental impacts including freshwater use up to five million gallons per day, energy consumption currently equivalent to France, projected growth to the energy use of 1.4 billion people by 2030 (IMF), and that 20 data center proposals worth $98 billion were blocked or delayed between April and June 2025 (Data Center Watch). It also cites a UNEP warning: “We need to make sure the net effect of AI on the planet is positive before we deploy the technology at scale.”
  • Background & supporting details: The piece lists concrete harms across the lifecycle: raw material extraction (800 kg of materials for a 2 kg computer), e-waste exports to the Global South, 5–10% increases in household energy bills, community resistance across multiple U.S. states (Arizona, Wisconsin, Virginia, Oklahoma), and notes Big Tech (Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon) is spending collectively hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers while pushing for expanded power infrastructure and nuclear expansion by 2050.
• Jan 21, 2026

  Google inks PPAs to power data centers with carbon-free energy

  Google has signed three 20-year power purchase agreements with Clearway Energy Group for new clean energy capacity.

  • Google and Clearway executed three 20-year PPAs in 2025 totaling 1.17 gigawatts of “carbon-free energy projects” to support Google data centers in Missouri, Texas, and West Virginia, with the deals representing over $2.4 billion in energy infrastructure investment; the partnership totals 1.24 GW when combined with an existing 71.5 MW PPA in West Virginia.
  • Implementation details and background: Clearway will begin construction on over 1 GW of new projects, with new generation expected online in 2027 and 2028, delivered across grids managed by Southwest Power Pool, ERCOT, and MISO; Clearway (San Francisco-headquartered) has a 13 GW portfolio across 350 operating projects in 27 states, and Google/Alphabet recently announced the planned acquisition of clean energy developer Intersect for $4.75 billion (expected close H1 2026).
• Jan 21, 2026

  The plan to build massive data center in Imperial County — without environmental review

  Sebastian Rucci’s company, Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing, is advancing a plan to build a nearly one-million-square-foot, $10 billion data center in Imperial County while seeking to avoid California’s environmental review process (CEQA).

  • Project scope & immediate action: The proposal is for a nearly 1 million-square-foot facility allegedly costing $10 billion, intended to power AI computing; developers claim the project can be designated a ministerial (CEQA-exempt) project and have pursued a lot merger to combine five parcels into a 75-acre site — the lot merger failed an initial Planning Commission vote (Dec. 18, 2025) and has been appealed to the Imperial County Board of Supervisors. The city of Imperial has filed a lawsuit alleging CEQA and local-law violations; the developer and county have asked the court to dismiss the suit, and the developer filed a separate federal lawsuit against the city.
  • Background & concrete details: The developer claims an agreement to purchase 6 million gallons/day of reclaimed water from El Centro and Imperial and says the data center would use ~750,000 gallons/day (1/8 of that total); IID officials warned the proposed power demand would be “a massive increase in overall electrical load” and said current infrastructure would not be sufficient without upgrades. State Sen. Steve Padilla introduced SB887 to require environmental review for new data centers and to clarify that data centers do not qualify for the “advanced manufacturing” exemption. The article documents the developer’s prior business/legal controversies and cites feasibility studies provided to IID.
• Jan 21, 2026

  Despite its steep environmental costs, AI might also help save the planet

  The author argues that AI increases environmental footprints while also enabling efficiency and emissions reductions across multiple sectors.

  • Main claim and examples:AI can both raise energy/water use and improve efficiency across sectors; examples include Kilimo (precision irrigation) where farms in Chile’s Biobío region have reduced water use by up to 30% and farmers can earn 20%–40% profit above initial investment; Alaska Airlines saved 1.2 million gallons of fuel in 2023 using AI route optimization; Shell aims to nearly eliminate methane leaks by 2030 using AI monitoring.
  • Background and supporting details: The article cites data center impacts and efficiency: U.S. data centers used 176 TWh in 2023 (rising to 183 TWh in 2024) and global data-center electricity rose from ~1% (2010) to ~2% (2025) of global electricity use; Equinix in Frankfurt improved operations by 9% using AI-driven cooling adjustments; Copenhagen district heating pilots reduced building energy by 15%–25%, peak heating demand by up to 30%, and cut ~10,000 tonnes CO2/year.