Iowa Data Center Intel

Recent Iowa data center news

• Dec 16, 2025

  Alliant Energy’s President of Wisconsin utility business, David de Leon, announces retirement; Valcq named successor

  Alliant Energy has announced the planned retirement of David de Leon and the appointment of Becky Valcq as President of its Wisconsin energy company.

  • David de Leon will retire as President of Alliant Energy’s Wisconsin energy company effective July 1, 2026, following 39 years of service across Iowa and Wisconsin; this is part of a planned leadership transition communicated by President and CEO Lisa Barton.
  • Becky Valcq will become President of the Wisconsin energy company and Vice President of Energy Delivery effective January 5, 2026, after serving as Assistant Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Data Center Services and previously chairing the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin and leading the state’s Energy Office, Broadband Office and Office of Energy Innovation; she will oversee Wisconsin operations, customer growth, and economic development efforts across Iowa and Wisconsin.
• Dec 15, 2025

  AI-Powered IT: From Reactive to Proactive with Dell AIOps

  Dell Technologies is promoting Dell AIOps, a cloud-based AI-driven IT operations and observability platform with a generative AI agent (AIOps Assistant), now available at no additional cost for customers with ProSupport agreements.

  • Dell AIOps provides predictive analytics, proactive issue detection, cybersecurity risk prioritization, energy and carbon footprint tracking, and a generative AI AIOps Assistant that answers conversational queries about infrastructure health, performance, and sustainability, integrating via APIs and webhooks with tools like Slack, ServiceNow, Ansible, and Terraform.
  • The article highlights up to 10X faster time to resolution and ~8 hours saved per week in system administration (per a 2021 CloudIQ user survey), emphasizes secure credential management and adherence to security best practices, and notes that Dell AIOps is built exclusively for Dell infrastructure (storage, servers, networking, cyber resilience) and supports mobile access and user-specific notifications/digests.
• Dec 15, 2025

  Oracle Database@Google Cloud is Now Available in India

  Oracle has announced the availability of Oracle Database@Google Cloud in India, enabling access to Oracle AI Database services on OCI within the Asia-South 1 (Mumbai) Google Cloud region and launching an industry-first partner reseller program.

  • Service launch in India: Oracle Database@Google Cloud now runs on OCI in Google Cloud’s Asia-South 1 (Mumbai) region, offering Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, Oracle Autonomous AI Database, Oracle Autonomous AI Lakehouse, Oracle AI Database 26ai, and Zero Data Loss Autonomous Recovery Service, with in-region data residency, low-latency connectivity to Google Cloud applications, and integrations with BigQuery, Vertex AI, and Gemini models.
  • Partner and regional expansion details: An industry-first partner program lets partners in both Google Cloud Partner Advantage and Oracle PartnerNetwork resell Oracle Database@Google Cloud via Google Cloud Marketplace; the Mumbai region joins 11 existing Google Cloud regions (Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne, Frankfurt, Montreal, Toronto, São Paulo, London, Iowa, Ashburn, Salt Lake City), with additional regions planned within 12 months including Seoul, Osaka, Delhi, Madrid, Paris, Milan, Turin, Dammam, Mexico, and Santiago to support multicloud and IT modernization demand.
• Dec 11, 2025

  What to Do With Remaining BEAD Funds, a.k.a 'Non-Deployment'?

  The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued the BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice prioritizing lowest-cost bids, voiding previously approved state plans, and rescinding authorization for non-deployment activities.

  • Main action and effects: NTIA’s June 6 BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice requires states to resubmit plans within 90 days, eliminates scoring criteria for labor practices, climate resilience, and affordability, and replaces multi-criteria evaluation with a single metric—total BEAD cost per location; NTIA now estimates roughly $21 billion in BEAD “savings” across 56 states and territories.
  • Background and specifics: States had planned to use non-deployment funds for workforce development, digital literacy, telehealth, device subsidies, and community anchor institution connections (examples: Louisiana $510 million, Florida ~$200 million); litigation risk and Congressional pushback (bipartisan letters, proposed RECAPTURE Act) are active, and NTIA has promised guidance in early 2026. The draft White House executive order would link eligibility for remaining funds to state AI regulatory frameworks, adding a legal and political dimension.
• Dec 11, 2025

  Dual Feed: NextEra Energy, TotalEnergies, ENGIE, NIPSCO, ProPetro, Claibrant Energy, DTE Energy, Redwood Materials, KULR, Honeywell

  NextEra Energy is repositioning as a bespoke energy-infrastructure partner for AI-scale data centers, announcing large partnerships (notably with Google Cloud) and plans including a restart of the 615 MW Duane Arnold nuclear plant under a 25-year PPA targeted to return to service by 2029.

  • Main announcement & actions: NextEra is sharpening focus on data-center customers with a backlog ~6 GW earmarked for technology/data centers and an operating+backlog >10.5 GW; it is pursuing a diversified portfolio (renewables, nuclear restart at Duane Arnold 615 MW targeted 2029 under a 25-year PPA, long-duration storage, gas) and announced a landmark partnership with Google Cloud to build multiple gigawatt-scale campuses with dedicated generation and capacity infrastructure.
  • Background & other concrete details: Other 2025 industry moves include TotalEnergies–Google 15-year PPA for 1.5 TWh (Montpelier, Ohio); ENGIE–Meta 600 MW Swenson Ranch Solar (Texas), online 2027; NIPSCO/GenCo plan up to 3 GW dispatchable for Amazon including two 1.3 GW gas units + 400 MW / 1,600 MWh BESS with ~$7 billion estimated capex; PROPWR (ProPetro) 60 MW hybrid BESS + reciprocating engines for a Midwest hyperscaler; Aligned + Calibrant 31 MW / 62 MWh on-site BESS coming online 2026; DTE Energy seeking approval to serve a proposed 1.4 GW AI data center in Michigan (linked to Oracle/OpenAI); vendor announcements include Redwood Energy (battery repurposing), KULR‘s AI Datacenter BESS platform, and Honeywell + LS Electric integrated microgrid solutions.
• Dec 11, 2025

  Oracle Database@Google Cloud is Now Available in Canada

  Oracle has announced the availability of Oracle Database@Google Cloud in Canada, including a new partner reseller program for Oracle and Google Cloud partners.

  • Service launch in Canada: Oracle Database@Google Cloud is now offered in North America-Northeast 1 (Montreal) and North America-Northeast 2 (Toronto) Google Cloud regions, providing access to Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, Oracle Autonomous AI Database, Oracle Autonomous AI Lakehouse, Oracle AI Database 26ai, and Zero Data Loss Autonomous Recovery Service, with in-region data residency to meet Canadian sovereignty and compliance requirements.
  • Partner program and global footprint: A new industry-first partner program lets partners in both Google Cloud Partner Advantage and Oracle PartnerNetwork resell Oracle Database@Google Cloud via Google Cloud Marketplace, while Oracle highlights existing and planned regional availability across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Latin America and positions the service within its broader OCI distributed and multicloud strategy (including Oracle Database@AWS, Oracle Database@Azure, and Oracle Interconnect offerings).
• Dec 2, 2025

  Data Center Jobs: Engineering, Construction, Commissioning, Sales, Field Service and Facility Tech Jobs Available in Major Data Center Hotspots

  Data Center Frontier, in partnership with Pkaza, posted a monthly roundup of active data center job openings on the Pkaza jobs board.

  • Main announcement: Data Center Frontier and Pkaza published a list of open roles (examples: Data Center Facility Technician, Electrical Commissioning Engineer, Construction Project Manager, Electrical Engineer, Critical Power Sales Associate, Sr Mechanical Engineer, Site Selection Manager/Director/VP, Electrical Project Manager, MEP Superintendent, Mechanical Commissioning Engineer, Engineering Design Director, Navy Nuke Facility Technician) posted on Pkaza’s jobs board; positions are available across many US cities including Ashburn, VA; Atlanta, GA; Dallas, TX; Chicago, IL; New York, NY; Montvale, NJ; Austin, TX; Charlotte, NC; New Albany, OH; Phoenix, AZ.
  • Background and details: Roles are for mission-critical data center employers (developers, colo providers, contractors, commissioning firms) and frequently emphasize reliability, energy efficiency, sustainable design / LEED expertise and commissioning; some listings explicitly accept Navy Nuke / military veterans and many positions list multiple alternative locations or hybrid/remote options. Author: Kathy Hitchens (Data Center Frontier).
• Dec 2, 2025 · RMI

  The Five Types of Electro-Industrial States

  Rocky Mountain Institute presents a typology classifying US states into five electro-industrial archetypes.

  • Main announcement/action: RMI authors classify states into five archetypes — Momentum Hubs (Arizona, California), Fast‑Track Builders (Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Ohio, Idaho), Policy Champions (New York, Michigan, Virginia, Oregon, Washington, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania), Open‑Door Starters (Vermont, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Mississippi, Iowa), and Early‑Stage Starters (Missouri, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Maine, Alabama, Louisiana, Indiana, West Virginia, Montana, Arkansas). The typology is based on policy reliability, regulatory ease, economic capacity, physical infrastructure (power and interconnection), and market momentum.
  • Background and details: The analysis highlights that market momentum and policy reliability should operate in tandem; low regulatory burdens accelerate short-term investment but may strain local housing and infrastructure without accompanying policy ambition. The authors reference the report GREASE Lightning as a policy playbook for designing investment-led, state-driven electro-industrial strategies.
• Nov 12, 2025

  Meta announces $1 billion Data Center Investment in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin Project

  Meta announced a major investment to build an AI-optimized data center campus in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, located in Alliant Energy’s Beaver Dam Commerce Park and expected to come online in 2027.

  • Project details and commitments: Meta will invest more than $1 billion to build an AI-optimized data center campus spanning over 700,000 square feet with operational buildings targeting LEED Gold; the site is expected online in 2027, will support more than 1,000 skilled trade jobs at peak construction and 100+ operational jobs, and Meta will match the site’s electricity use with 100% clean and renewable energy while underwriting nearly $200 million in energy infrastructure (network upgrades, utility substations, transmission lines).
  • Background, timelines and environmental actions: Over the next ten years, Meta will donate $15 million to Alliant Energy’s Hometown Care Energy Fund; the facility will use dry cooling (no water demands for cooling when operational) and Meta will restore 100% of water consumed by the Beaver Dam site to local watersheds; the project includes restoration of 570 acres of wetland and prairie (with 175 acres deeded to Ducks Unlimited). The site is in Alliant Energy’s largest certified commerce park, designated a WEDC certified site in 2019.
• Nov 6, 2025

  Alliant Energy Announces Third Quarter 2025 Results and 2026 Guidance

  Alliant Energy announced third-quarter 2025 financial results, narrowed 2025 ongoing EPS guidance, issued 2026 EPS guidance, raised its 2026 dividend target, and increased projected capital expenditures to serve new large data-center demand.

  • Quarterly results & guidance: Reported GAAP EPS $1.09 and ongoing (non‑GAAP) EPS $1.12 for Q3 2025; narrowed 2025 ongoing EPS guidance to $3.17 - $3.23 and provided 2026 ongoing EPS guidance of $3.36 - $3.46. 2026 annual common dividend target increased to $2.14 per share. Conference call scheduled Nov 7, 2025 at 9 a.m. CT hosted by Lisa Barton and Robert Durian (dial 800-549-8228 or 646-564-2877; webcast at www.alliantenergy.com/investors).

  • Load, capital and adjustments: Utilities IPL and WPL now have 3 GW of contracted data-center demand including a newly executed 900 MW ESA for QTS Madison; Alliant expects peak energy demand to grow ~50% by 2030. To serve expected load while maintaining reliability, Alliant increased its 2026–2029 forecasted capital expenditures to $13.4 billion and provided detailed annual capex plans (2025–2029 in millions). Non‑GAAP adjustment: $8 million state income tax apportionment charge (equivalent to $0.03 EPS).