California Data Center Intel

Recent California data center news

• Oct 27, 2025

  Google Has Deal With NextEra to Restart Duane Arnold Nuclear Plant

  NextEra Energy announced Google has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement that enables NextEra to restart the 615-MW Duane Arnold Energy Center and NextEra has agreed to acquire CIPCO and Corn Belt’s combined 30% interest to become the plant’s sole owner.

  • Main announcement: NextEra and Google signed a 25-year PPA for power from the 615-MW Duane Arnold Energy Center; NextEra said the contract “enables the investment to restart the plant and covers costs for the production of energy from Duane Arnold.” NextEra expects the plant could be operational as soon as early 2029, and CIPCO will buy output under the same contract terms as Google.
  • Background and details: NextEra agreed to acquire Central Iowa Power Cooperative and Corn Belt Power Cooperative’s combined 30% interest to assume full ownership; Google noted a recent $7-billion investment in Iowa and said the restart supports its cloud and AI infrastructure in the state. NextEra stated it is coordinating with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and local authorities and has nearly 3 GW of projects executed with Google nationwide.
• Oct 24, 2025 · RMI

  PJM’s Speed to Power Problem and How to Fix It

  RMI authors call on PJM to prioritize speeding interconnection so queued generators can compete and reduce soaring capacity costs.

  • Main action: RMI urges PJM to speed interconnection to allow queued resources to enter the market sooner; key facts: average interconnection timeline >8 years (2025) vs. 1-year expert target, capacity price spike from $29/MW-day to $330/MW-day, and total capacity bill increase from $2.2B to $16.1B (latest auction). These delays forced customers to pay an additional $13.9B to existing generators.
  • Background and details: PJM completed TC1 in 544 days; over 100 GW applied to TC1 and ~40 GW were studied in the first phase (article notes XX received agreements); FERC granted a 540-day independent entity variation; TC1 network upgrade costs average ~$309k/MW (far above NREL and DOE benchmarks). RMI recommends software deployment, ERIS reform, advanced transmission technologies (ATTs), and proactive transmission planning with concrete references to Pearl Street, Nira Energy, GridAstra, Quanta and related studies.
• Oct 24, 2025

  AI’s Growing Appetite: What the Grid Needs to Keep Up

  Bryce Yonker / Grid Forward highlights the need for grid upgrades and market reforms to meet rapidly rising electricity demand from AI data centers.

  • Main announcement/action:Grid Forward (Bryce Yonker) calls for major grid upgrades, market reforms, and expanded cybersecurity programs to support AI data centers that now commonly require 100–200 MW, with some designs targeting 500 MW to several GW; he cites projected U.S. data-center electricity growth of 3.7%–15% annually to 2030 and recommends investments in Advanced transmission conductors, Grid-enhancing technologies (dynamic line rating), modern switchgear, AI-driven grid applications, on-site generation (hybrid renewables, geothermal, natural gas, SMRs), and load flexibility.
  • Background and implementation details: The article reviews existing and emerging measures including FERC Order 2023 (streamlining transmission planning and interconnection via consolidated planning and expedited studies with RTOs/ISOs such as SPP, MISO, CAISO); describes a recent Indiana settlement requiring new large loads >70 MW to sign long-term contracts (up to 12 years) with ramp-in periods, minimum charges, and upfront collateral; and lists equipment lead times (distribution transformers 30–50 weeks, large power transformers up to 150 weeks, switchgear ~1 year+) as constraints that require domestic supply-chain incentives and standardized protocols.
• Oct 23, 2025

  Liquid cooling lessons from HPC to AI factories: How to enable next-gen AI data centers

  Motivair applies its exascale liquid-cooling expertise to enable AI factories at scale.

  • Main announcement/action: Motivair is leveraging proven HPC/exascale liquid-cooling systems (used on Frontier, Aurora, El Capitan) to supply modular, repeatable cooling infrastructure for large-scale AI factories, including CDUs, ChilledDoors®, cold plates, and in-rack manifolds, scaling from 100 kW racks to multi-megawatt campuses.
  • Background and technical details: Highlights key thermal variables — pressure drop, ΔT, and flow rate — with concrete figures: rack densities moved from 20–50 kW (air-cooled) to 300–400 kW (liquid-cooled); recommended flow is ~1–1.5 liters per minute per kW at under 3 PSI; Motivair’s engineered loops aim to stabilize ΔT and maintain GPU clock speeds across thousands of racks.
• Oct 16, 2025

  Advocating for Public Power Companies: LPPC Focuses on Load Growth, FEMA Reform, and Tax-Exempt Bonds

  The Large Public Power Council (LPPC) is advocating federal policy changes to address rapid electricity load growth driven by data centers, AI, and electrification, and is pushing for FEMA process reforms and updates to Treasury rules on tax-exempt bonds.

  • Main announcement/action: LPPC (29 member public power systems serving 30.5 million consumers across 23 states and territories) is urging Congress and federal agencies to re-examine queue processes, finance mechanisms for large loads, and FEMA procedures to accelerate infrastructure delivery; LPPC highlights that about half of its members are experiencing rapid load growth that could double over the next 10 years, with individual new customers now seeking up to 1 GW of capacity (“enough to power probably 600,000 homes”).
  • Background and specifics: LPPC president Tom Falcone identified specific reforms: support for the FEMA Act of 2025 (House proposal by Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Larsen) to reduce disaster grant delays, and revisions to U.S. Treasury regulations on tax-exempt bonds related to “private use” that limit long-dated contracts with customers; LPPC notes permitting, public processes, construction, and supply-chain timelines constrain how fast utilities can build.
• Oct 13, 2025

  NVIDIA, Partners Drive Next-Gen Efficient Gigawatt AI Factories in Buildup for Vera Rubin

  NVIDIA unveiled MGX and Kyber designs at the OCP Global Summit, presenting open-standard rack and compute-tray architectures and an ecosystem for 800 VDC gigawatt-scale AI data centers.

  • Main announcement/action: NVIDIA announced the Vera Rubin NVL144 MGX open-architecture rack servers and previewed the NVIDIA Kyber rack generation; supporting details include: 50+ MGX partners, Kyber to connect 576 Rubin Ultra GPUs by 2027, and Vera Rubin NVL144 features 100% liquid cooling, a midplane PCB replacing cable connections, 45°C liquid cooling, and a liquid-cooled busbar with 20x more energy storage.
  • Background/other details: multiple ecosystem partners and implementations were described, including Foxconn’s 40-megawatt Kaohsiung-1 data center (Taiwan) built for 800 VDC, Vertiv’s 800 VDC MGX reference architecture, HPE and others adding product support for NVIDIA Kyber and Spectrum-XGS; the summit (OCP Global Summit) took place Oct. 13-16 at San Jose Convention Center, agenda topics included:
    • Oct. 13-16, San Jose Convention Center — sessions and demos covering MGX rack servers, 800 VDC power delivery, liquid cooling, and Kyber rack architecture
    • Ecosystem showcases from silicon, power system and cooling vendors, and cloud/service providers demonstrating implementations and reference architectures

  (Notes contain factual announcements, partner lists, timelines, and event details drawn directly from the article.)

• Oct 9, 2025

  Energy Vault Closes $300 Million Preferred Equity Investment with Orion Infrastructure Capital (OIC), Officially Launching "Asset Vault" Platform in Move to Energy Asset Management and Long-Term Asset Development

  Energy Vault has announced the closing of a $300 million preferred equity investment from OIC L.P. and the launch of Asset Vault, a fully consolidated subsidiary to develop, build, own and operate energy storage assets globally.

  • Main announcement: Energy Vault closed a $300 million preferred equity investment with OIC L.P. to officially launch Asset Vault, a fully consolidated subsidiary that will develop, build, own and operate storage assets; the preferred equity is non-dilutive to common shareholders and includes milestones for common equity participation. The company expects to draw nearly $200 million over the next six months to commence work on two additional late-stage projects (including the 125MW / 1,000MWh Stoney Creek BESS in New South Wales, Australia).

  • Background and details: Asset Vault consolidates a portfolio with 3GW and 12+ GWh of projects across the U.S., Europe and Australia, including the 57 MW / 114 MWh Cross Trails BESS and the 8.5 MW / 293 MWh Calistoga Resiliency Center; projects are supported by long-term offtake agreements, ITC incentives, and project-level debt financing targeting 15%+ levered IRRs over a 20-year asset life. For investors: a virtual Investor and Analyst Day is scheduled for Wednesday October 29th, 2025 (virtual; registration via the company website: https://www.energyvault.com/rsvpinvestorday2025).

• Oct 9, 2025

  Energy Vault Closes $300 Million Preferred Equity Investment with Orion Infrastructure Capital (OIC), Officially Launching "Asset Vault" Platform in Move to Energy Asset Management and Long-Term Asset Development

  Energy Vault has announced the closing of a $300 million preferred equity investment from OIC L.P. to launch Asset Vault, a fully consolidated subsidiary to develop, build, own and operate energy storage assets globally.

  • Transaction and immediate deployment: The $300M preferred equity is non-dilutive to common shareholders and includes milestones for common equity participation; Energy Vault expects to draw nearly $200M over the next six months to start two late-stage projects in the U.S. and Australia, including the 125 MW / 1,000 MWh Stoney Creek BESS. The company states Asset Vault will accelerate deployment of +1.5 GW in priority markets and advance additional pipeline projects.
  • Portfolio, financing and timeline: Asset Vault consolidates a portfolio of 3 GW and 12+ GWh of identified/acquired/operational projects across the U.S., Europe and Australia, including the 57 MW / 114 MWh Cross Trails BESS and the 8.5 MW / 293 MWh Calistoga Resiliency Center (CRC); projects are supported by long-term offtake agreements, ITC incentives, and project-level debt financing, with a targeted 15%+ levered IRR over a 20-year asset life. Energy Vault schedules a virtual Investor and Analyst Day on Wednesday, October 29, 2025 (virtual registration link provided).
• Oct 9, 2025

  Energy Vault Closes $300 Million Preferred Equity Investment with Orion Infrastructure Capital (OIC), Officially Launching "Asset Vault" Platform in Move to Energy Asset Management and Long-Term Asset Development

  Energy Vault announced the closing of a $300 million preferred equity investment from OIC L.P. and the launch of Asset Vault, a fully consolidated subsidiary to develop, build, own and operate energy storage assets globally.

  • Transaction & primary action: Completed $300 million preferred equity investment from OIC L.P. to launch Asset Vault (Energy Vault’s consolidated subsidiary) to pursue an IPP strategy; the preferred equity is non-dilutive to common shareholders and includes milestones for common equity participation. The Company expects to draw nearly $200 million over the next six months to commence work on two additional late-stage projects (U.S. and Australia) including the 125 MW / 1,000 MWh Stoney Creek BESS.
  • Portfolio, financing & targets: Asset Vault consolidates ~3 GW and 12+ GWh of projects across the U.S., Europe and Australia, including the 57 MW / 114 MWh Cross Trails BESS and 8.5 MW / 293 MWh Calistoga Resiliency Center (CRC); projects are supported by long-term offtake agreements, Investment Tax Credit (ITC) incentives, and project-level debt financing with 15%+ targeted levered IRRs over a 20-year asset life. Implementation timeline/event:
    • Investor & Analyst Day: Wednesday, October 29, 2025 (virtual) — registration link: https://www.energyvault.com/rsvpinvestorday2025 — agenda: presentation of Asset Vault strategy, portfolio and financial outlook (time not specified).
• Oct 9, 2025

  New Data Center Developments: October 2025

  Data Center Knowledge published a monthly roundup of global data center project announcements and investments.

  • Main roundup highlights: The article aggregates multiple large-scale AI and data center commitments, notably Nvidia’s $100 billion strategic partnership with OpenAI to deploy 10 GW of GPU systems with “first deployments in the second half of 2026” using Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform; CloudHQ’s $4.8 billion plan to build six data centers in Mexico City with a 900 MW private substation opening in 2027; and regional large investments including Microsoft’s $6 billion Norway deal and Nvidia/OpenAI’s $15 billion UK initiative. It also notes planned construction starts/timelines such as HydraVault beginning construction this fall for a Tier 3-compatible Chicago data center with user buildout access estimated by 2026.
  • Background and other concrete details: The piece lists several energy and infrastructure actions: Centersquare’s $1 billion self-funded acquisition of 10 data centers across the US and Canada; Hitachi Energy’s $1 billion grid investment to support data center growth; Ameresco partnering with the US Navy and CyrusOne to build a 100 MW AI-optimized data center at NAS Lemoore; Pelagos Data Centres’ 250 MW facility near Gibraltar to be built in five phases with the first phase by late 2027; and GreenSquareDC’s 110 MW Sydney campus securing approvals for an initial 15 MW phase expected complete by Q3 2026. For partnerships/deals: Nvidia–OpenAI will deploy GPUs via Vera Rubin and work with infrastructure firms (Nscale/CoreWeave) starting H2 2026; CloudHQ will build six Mexico City data centers and a 900 MW substation opening in 2027.