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Florida Data Center Intel
Latest data center news, projects, power and policy across Florida — updated daily.
Florida · Construction & power moves · 2
full tracker →Land, power, and interconnection moves across Florida — each traced to primary filings.
Recent Florida data center news
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NextEra, Dominion in talks to create $400 billion US utility, FT reports
NextEra Energy is in talks to combine with Dominion Energy.
- Deal details: The talks concern a potential stock transaction that would create a company valued at about $400 billion (including debt); the deal could be announced as soon as next week, though discussions are ongoing and may still fall apart.
- Background and context: The report was published by the Financial Times and not immediately verified by Reuters; NextEra has a market capitalization of $194.69 billion and Dominion about $54.29 billion, and rising US power demand—driven largely by data centres and the AI boom—is cited as a factor reshaping the power market.
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AI Infrastructure’s Next Bottleneck May Be Public Acceptance
Melissa Farney (Data Center Frontier) argues that AI data center expansion has become a first‑order political and permitting constraint, citing recent legislative and local actions including the “Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act” proposal and Maine’s LD 307 veto.
- Main point: The article states that AI‑oriented data center growth is now a core political and permitting risk for operators, not just a siting or PR issue, citing industry forecasts such as JLL’s ~$710 billion North America capex projection to 2026 and project‑level impact estimates from Data Center Watch (approximately $18B blocked and $46B delayed, totalling $64B) and a New York Times compilation of $156B across 48 AI projects disrupted in 2025.
- Key supporting facts & recent actions: Federal and state moves are already concrete: Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez unveiled the “Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act”; Maine’s LD 307 (would have paused data centers >20 MW through Nov 1, 2027) was vetoed by Gov. Janet Mills; local utilities like the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority (YCUA) imposed a 12‑month moratorium on new water/sewer hookups in April 2026. The article also highlights New Jersey bill S731/A796 (require 85% of requested service for 10 years for very large loads) as an example of state-level cost‑allocation tools.
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Cowtown Angels Portfolio Co. Strategic Thermal Labs Acquired by Ohio-Based Vertiv
Vertiv has acquired Georgetown-based Strategic Thermal Labs (STL), integrating STL’s chip-level liquid-cooling expertise into Vertiv’s thermal-chain strategy.
- Acquisition announced: Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) acquired Strategic Thermal Labs (STL); STL contributes cold-plate design, server-side liquid cooling, and high-density thermal validation capabilities to strengthen Vertiv’s thermal-chain interface for AI and high-performance computing environments. Cowtown Angels (TechFW) participated in STL’s April 2024 seed round (led by Carrier Ventures; included Cowtown Sidecar Fund-I). Article date: May 12, 2026.
- Background & details: STL was founded in 2014. Vertiv said the deal improves its ability to simulate and emulate high-density compute conditions, optimize thermal and power-train interaction, and support customers across design, integration, commissioning, and lifecycle operations. Quotes included from Caitlin McMinn (TechFW) and Scott Armul (Vertiv).
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Dell Technologies World Through the Eyes of Our Internal Ambassadors
Dell Internal Ambassadors preview what they’re most excited about for Dell Technologies World.
- Main announcement: Dell Internal Ambassadors will highlight Dell’s focus on agentic AI, storage-as-backbone for AI, Dell Automation Platform, cyber resilience (PowerProtect), hands-on demos like the Claw Lab (building a self-contained agentic AI bot using a Dell Pro Max with NVIDIA GB10), the Energy Aware Compute area (servers connected to real-time and forecasted grid data to save energy costs and emissions), and hardware reveals including the Dell UltraSharp 52 6K monitor.
- Background & details: Ambassadors will run Birds of a Feather, Ask the Experts, and Executive Briefing Center sessions; Colm Keegan references Dell’s Cyber Resilience Insights research (57% of organizations couldn’t effectively contain/recover from their last cyber incident) and teases PowerProtect updates; Forrest Sparke notes a timeline detail — biking coast-to-coast since March 2, 2026 while working with Verizon 5G-enabled Dell Rugged devices.
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Florida planned ahead on data centers – and families are better off for it
Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation requiring Florida’s regulated utilities to develop rate structures ensuring large-scale data centers bear their electric service costs.
- Main action: Governor DeSantis’ law directs regulated utilities to create rate structures that ensure large-scale data centers pay their electric service costs; FPL says its PSC-approved large-load rate already requires customers to pay 100% of any new power generation needed to serve their projects and includes engineering reviews, financial collateral, minimum monthly payments, long-term commitments, and protections if a project shuts down early.
- Context/details: The piece is an op-ed by Scott Bores, president of Florida Power & Light Company; it frames the policy as protecting Florida families and small businesses from cost-shifting and notes benefits such as added revenue to cover fixed system costs while maintaining reliability during peak demand and extreme weather.
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50 States of Power Decarbonization Q1 2026: Lawmakers Tackle Cost Allocation and Ratepayer Protections for Large Load Additions
The NC Clean Energy Technology Center released the Q1 2026 edition of the 50 States of Power Decarbonization report.
- Report release & key findings: The Q1 2026 report documents 509 actions taken by 49 states plus Puerto Rico during the quarter and notes more than 600 introduced bills not yet passed. It reports planned capacity additions of 58,276 MW solar, 54,952 MW natural gas, 30,297 MW storage, and 22,358 MW wind, and 30,967 MW of planned coal retirements.
- Top developments & context: The report highlights top policy developments including the Arizona Corporation Commission repealing the state renewable energy standard, Florida requiring large load tariffs, a North Carolina task force report on large load growth, Virginia rejoining RGGI, and El Paso Electric proposing large load tariffs in New Mexico; the most active states in Q1 2026 were Virginia, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Arizona.
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Power Drives the AI Data Center Boom, but Connectivity Cannot be Overlooked
An analysis argues that data center operators must prioritize power and optical connectivity for AI.
- Main point: The piece highlights power and optical connectivity as essential prerequisites for AI, citing Omdia’s forecast that global IT load power capacity will reach 314 GW by 2030 and noting the emergence of the “scale across“ concept (coined in 2025 by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang) which requires 800 Gbps+, low-latency optical links to operate multi-site AI clusters and gigawatt-scale training campuses.
- Background/details: The article is commentary/analysis (not a formal project announcement). It documents current industry pressures: typical large colocation sites support 50–100 MW, hyperscaler clusters are being planned at gigawatt scale, regional power supply wait times of 2–5 years, and a shift toward remote rural builds (examples: Lancaster PA; Memphis; Columbus, Ohio; rural Georgia; New Mexico; Wyoming) that require long-haul fiber links sometimes up to ~1,000 km. It references trade shows and forums including Metro Connect (Florida), Nvidia’s GTC, OFC, and the Optica Executive Forum.
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Climate Change Solutions - May 5, 2026
EESI will host a briefing with American Rivers on May 7 about U.S. water infrastructure challenges and solutions.
Briefing with American Rivers on May 7: EESI and American Rivers will hold a briefing titled Policies and Financing Solutions to Modernize U.S. Water Infrastructure on Thursday, May 7, 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m., at the Rayburn House Office Building Gold Room (Room 2168) and online; agenda includes U.S. water infrastructure challenges, solutions to close the investment gap, and discussion of the January 2026 Potomac River sewer collapse that discharged 200 million gallons of raw sewage.
- Location: Rayburn House Office Building Gold Room (Room 2168)
- Time & Date: Thursday, May 7, 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
- RSVP: https://www.eesi.org/briefings/view/050726water#rsvp
Newsletter content and related items: The issue highlights articles on data center waste heat reuse, PFAS (“forever chemicals”) in data center components, a breakdown of 65 climate, energy, and environment hearings on the Hill from March–April 2026, and a podcast interview about environmental justice research in Accra, Ghana. It also notes internship applications open until May 17, 2026, and links to legislative actions such as the enactment of the Homeland Security and Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act of 2026 (H.R.7147) and passage of bills including the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (H.R.7567).
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IQ Fiber Launches Fiber-Optic Internet Service in Pinellas County, Florida
IQ Fiber has launched 100 percent fiber-optic internet service in Pinellas County, Florida, covering St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and Largo.
- Launch: IQ Fiber launched 100% fiber-optic internet service in Pinellas County (St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo); Investment: marks the beginning of a more than $100 million investment in the region; Jobs: expected to create more than 50 permanent jobs.
- Background & footprint: Jacksonville-based company founded in 2021 with funding from SDC Capital Partners; current network serves Jacksonville and Gainesville (FL) and areas in Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, and South Carolina; public comments quoted IQ Fiber CEO Ted Schremp and Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector.
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Policy Problems Aside, Solar Continues to Shine
Nextpower has announced a multi-year steel-frame supply agreement with Jinko Solar (U.S.) Industries.
- This agreement is a multi-year steel-frame supply agreement in which Nextpower will supply more than 1 GW of steel frames, scalable to up to 3 GW over a three-year period, to support module manufacturing at Jinko Solar’s Jacksonville, Florida facility; the U.S. Department of the Treasury guidance notes U.S.-made steel frames can add 6% to a tracker project’s domestic content calculation.
- Context and other recent announcements: The article reports multiple recent deals and industry developments — US Modules opened a College Station facility with Production Line 1 (~400 MW annual capacity, scalable to ~1.4 GW); Swift Solar acquired Meyer Burger assets to accelerate GW-scale HJT/perovskite-silicon manufacturing in the U.S.; industry data cited includes the EIA forecast to 424 TWh by 2027, China’s ~1,300 GW capacity and >80% supply-chain share, and AI/hyperscalers signing >30 GW of solar PPAs since 2023. The piece is a reporting/analysis article by POWER (Darrell Proctor).