California Data Center Intel

Recent California data center news

• Dec 30, 2025 · Rest of World

  The year in charts

  Rest of World launched a Charts page and highlighted 10 favorite charts from 2025.

  • Main announcement: Rest of World launched Charts, curating 10 original charts covering topics including BYD overtaking Tesla in EV sales, data center spending and jobs, the global AI race, Huawei’s push into emerging markets, and the OnlyFans economy; the piece links to in-depth writeups and visualizations (see Charts page).
  • Additional details/background: The roundup cites specific findings and events: BYD passed Tesla as top EV seller; tech giants claim their data centers create thousands of jobs but permit-file analysis found only hundreds of full-time roles (security/cleaning); Huawei is targeting emerging markets amid U.S./EU bans; Donald Trump announced a $100,000 fee for new H-1B applicants (September 2025); other items include Ola’s rise and crash, India avoiding U.S.-style restrictions on Chinese tech, AI chatbots replacing “chatters” on OnlyFans, Taiwan’s low fertility context, 85+ nations with space programs but ~12 active spaceports, and Japanese convenience stores hiring robots tele-operated from the Philippines.
• Dec 30, 2025

  Dilip Buildcon Wins ₹1,850 Crore 400 kV Power Transmission Project In Karnataka

  Dilip Buildcon Limited has been awarded the L-1 contract by REC Power Development and Consultancy Limited to develop a 400 kV sub-station at Mekhali (Belagavi District, Karnataka) and associated 400 kV and 220 kV transmission lines.

  • Project structure & scope: Award under BOOT model via Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB); Dilip Buildcon to hold 100% equity in the SPV and act as the Transmission Service Provider (TSP), responsible for development, financing, design, procurement, construction, testing, commissioning, and long-term O&M.
  • Key commercial and timeline details:EPC value ₹1,850 crore (excluding GST); construction and commissioning to be completed within 24 months from the effective date; tariff-based annuity model with an operational/annuity period of 35 years from COD. The company notified BSE/NSE and will keep the trading window closed for designated persons until 48 hours after public disclosure.
• Dec 29, 2025

  Amazon Data Centers Aren’t Raising Your Electric Bills—They May Be Lowering Them

  Amazon Web Services commissioned an E3 study finding its data centers generate surplus revenue and are not subsidized by other utility customers.

  • Main finding and scope: The E3 study projects $33,500/MW in surplus value in 2025 rising to $60,650/MW by 2030; for a typical 100‑MW data center this equates to $3.4 million in 2025 and ~$6.1 million in 2030. The study assessed multiple utility territories including PG&E, Dominion Energy, Entergy, and Umatilla Electric Cooperative, concluding revenues above regulated returns can fund grid modernization without shifting costs to residential ratepayers.

  • Partnerships, structures, and project details: AWS and utilities are using innovative models (e.g., NIPSCO GenCo: 3 GW investment with 2.4 GW for data centers and 600 MW reserved for grid reliability); NIPSCO projects ~$1 billion in cost savings returned as bill credits over a 15‑year duration. Other specifics include Entergy Mississippi’s $300 million Superpower Mississippi grid campaign, AWS’s >600 renewable projects (claimed to power 8.3 million U.S. homes), investments in nuclear and 11 solar-plus-battery projects, and AWS efficiency metrics (Graviton up to 60% less energy, Inferentia2 up to 50% better performance per watt, PUE 1.15 in 2024, 35% embodied carbon reduction).

• Dec 29, 2025

  North Texas Startup Joins Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Utilities in Open Power AI Consortium Focused On How We ‘Make, Move, and Use Electricity’

  KYRO AI signed a memorandum of understanding with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to join the Open Power AI Consortium and will contribute field-tested utility operations expertise to the consortium’s effort to develop open-source AI models and a sandbox for electricity-sector applications.

  • Main announcement: KYRO AI (Plano) signed an MOU with EPRI to participate in the Open Power AI Consortium (OPAI) alongside tech firms (Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, AWS) and major utilities (Duke Energy, Exelon, Southern California Edison). KYRO will bring field-level operational data and workflows to help build open-source models and testcases for forecasting demand, triaging outages, and prioritizing work in the consortium’s sandbox environment.
  • Background and details: The consortium (announced March 2025) is developing domain-specific LLMs trained on EPRI data and aims to shorten interconnection study timelines (currently up to 4 years) by at least five times. Article cites specific figures: 22% rise in U.S. data-center power demand this year, a potential $22 billion in returns from cutting permitting timelines by one year, and a near $10 million error at the founder’s prior company as context for KYRO’s founding.
• Dec 29, 2025

  Golden State Fiber Poised to Connect 31,000 Locations in Rural California

  The Golden State Connect Authority announced it has secured $110.9 million in revenue bond financing to advance construction of an open-access public fiber network serving rural California.

  • Main announcement: The GSCA (representing 40 California counties) issued $110.9 million in revenue bonds (approved by the GSCA executive committee in October, priced in late November, closed Dec. 16, 2025) to fund fiber construction not covered by grants; the bonds will be repaid from system revenues once the network is operational and included participation from seven private investment firms.
  • Background and project details: The bond financing complements $185.4 million in Federal Funding Account grants from the California Public Utilities Commission (covering roughly 70% of total construction costs), will deploy fiber across Alpine, Amador, Glenn, Imperial, Mono, Tehama counties and the Town of Mammoth Lakes, is expected to reach over 31,000 locations, and will operate under an open-access municipal model with operational support from UTOPIA Fiber.
• Dec 29, 2025

  BioLargo Reflects on 2025 Progress and Positions for the Next Phase of Global Infrastructure, Environmental, and Medical Innovation

  BioLargo, Inc. delivered an open letter to stockholders summarizing 2025 progress and positioning its environmental, energy-storage (Cellinity), and medical (Clyra) platforms for commercial deployment in 2026.

  • Main announcement: BioLargo reports deployment progress in 2025, including installation of its proprietary Aqueous Electrostatic Concentrator (AEC) for PFAS removal at a municipal plant in Lake Stockholm, New Jersey, advancing public-private plans for Cellinity battery factory development aligned with state/regional infrastructure priorities, and Clyra completing a first production run for ViaClyr with commercial distribution preparations and expected product launches in 2026.
  • Background and details: Management emphasizes disciplined capital deployment and technical validation over rapid expansion; outlines use-cases across data centers, advanced manufacturing, energy storage, and environmental remediation; notes Clyra will present clinical findings at medical symposiums in early 2026 and that Cellinity is positioned as a domestic production alternative addressing safety and supply-chain concerns.
• Dec 27, 2025

  How AI can help cut global emissions even as its power demands continue to impact the environment

  The Associated Press reports that AI applications can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions even as AI computing and data centre energy use rises.

  • Main announcement/action: The article documents multiple real-world AI applications that reduce emissions or improve energy efficiency, including building automation, EV charging scheduling, oil-and-gas methane flaring reduction, geothermal site discovery, and traffic-light optimization; key stats include data centres ≈1.5% of global electricity use (last year) and an IEA projection that that consumption could more than double by 2030. Names and concrete results cited: building automation can cut energy use 10–30%; Google’s Project Green Light can reduce stop‑and‑go traffic up to 30% and cut emissions ~10%; Geminus AI’s simulations run in seconds versus traditional ~36 hours; Zanskar purchased an underperforming geothermal plant in New Mexico last year and announced a second geothermal discovery in Nevada in September.
  • Background and implementation details: The story cites experts and companies — Alexis Abramson (Columbia University Climate School), Bob French (75F), Zoltan Nagy (Eindhoven University of Technology), Greg Fallon (Geminus AI), Carl Hoiland and Joel Edwards (Zanskar), and Juliet Rothenberg (Google) — and describes a California pilot program that shifted EV charging to times with greater renewable supply and customer savings; IEA projections and UNEP findings on methane’s climate impact are used as factual context.
• Dec 23, 2025

  Data centers revive polluting ‘peaker’ plants across U.S.

  NRG Energy withdrew a planned retirement notice for the Fisk oil-fired peaker units as surging electricity demand from AI data centers in PJM territory made peaker plants economically viable.

  • Main action: NRG Energy withdrew the retirement notice for Fisk’s eight oil-fired peaking units (December 2025) after AI data center demand drove prices in PJM higher; PJM said the market shows electricity demand outstripping supply and that existing generation is needed while new generation comes online. Key facts: Fisk = eight peaking units on former coal station site; EPA estimated sulfur dioxide 2 to 25 tons/year from the site; PJM prices to suppliers soared by more than 800% this summer.
  • Background & other details: Reuters analysis found about 60% of oil, gas and coal plants slated for retirement in PJM postponed or cancelled retirements this year; 23 plants were scheduled to retire starting in 2025 in PJM territory, and since January 13 retirements were delayed or cancelled (of those, 11 were peakers). The U.S. Government Accountability Office notes peakers supply about 3% of the country’s power but have capacity to produce 19%, and federal actors (DOE/Administration) have signaled interest in tapping spare capacity.
• Dec 23, 2025

  NTIA Recommends $6.5M in Tribal Broadband Awards

  The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recommended nearly $6.5 million for nine Tribal broadband projects under the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP).

  • Main announcement: NTIA recommended nearly $6.5 million in funding for nine Tribal broadband projects, including a $2.5 million award to Dena’ Nena’ Henash to complete four engineered, environmentally permitted, shovel-ready fiber-to-the-home network designs; awards also include $496,003 for a hybrid fiber/wireless network serving the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes and $500,000 to the Barona Group to expand low-cost internet access.
  • Background and timeline: NTIA is overhauling the $3 billion TBCP, paused most previously recommended grants in November, will hold Tribal consultations on January 13 and January 20, 2026, and plans to issue new guidance for a funding round in spring 2026; roughly $980 million from the program’s second funding round remained undistributed as of November.
• Dec 23, 2025

  Alphabet to Buy Data Center Partner Intersect for $4.75B

  Alphabet has announced it will buy Intersect Power for $4.75 billion in cash plus existing debt.

  • Acquisition details:Alphabet will acquire Intersect’s power development platform and team, including existing in-development assets already contracted by Google; Intersect will retain its brand and continue to be led by CEO Sheldon Kimber. The purchase excludes grid assets and projects contracted to other customers in Texas and California (some operating, some in development); TPG Rise Climate will retain a stake in those excluded assets. Key project figures: 7.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar and storage in operation, 8 GW in development pipeline, and $15 billion of energy assets in operation or under construction in the US.

  • Context and rationale: The deal is intended to secure more electricity for Google’s data centers amid AI-driven demand and aging US grids; Alphabet says the move provides flexibility to build generation aligned with new data center load. Google reported its carbon emissions rose 48% over five years due to data center operations. Analysts (Ben Hertz-Shargel, Wood Mackenzie) note the acquisition reduces certain regulatory risk compared with a third-party powering Google sites.