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Indiana Data Center Intel
Latest data center news, projects, power and policy across Indiana — updated daily.
Recent Indiana data center news
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Google Signs Deal for Demand Response Capacity for Data Centers
Google has announced it has integrated 1 GW of demand response capacity into its long-term energy contracts with multiple U.S. utilities.
- Main announcement: Google integrated 1 GW of demand response capacity into long-term energy contracts with multiple U.S. utilities, explicitly naming Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Entergy Arkansas, Minnesota Power, and DTE Energy.
- Background and details: Since initial agreements with I&M and TVA last year, Google says the capability lets it limit or shift ML workloads in data centers to support grid balancing; Google is a founding member of EPRI DCFlex and is collaborating with states, regulators, and utility partners to modernize power system planning.
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A new milestone for smart, affordable electricity growth
Google has announced it integrated 1 GW of demand response capacity into long-term energy contracts with multiple U.S. utilities.
- Main announcement: Google has integrated a total of 1 gigawatt (GW) of demand response capacity into long-term energy contracts with multiple U.S. utilities (including Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Entergy Arkansas, Minnesota Power, and DTE Energy) to allow the company to shift or reduce ML workloads, deploy demand response quickly to bridge short-term load growth, and help new data centers connect more rapidly to local grids.
- Background and implementation details: These contracts position demand response as a capacity resource alongside solar, geothermal and long-duration energy storage; Google cites collaboration with states, regulators and utility partners, participation in initiatives like EPRI DCFlex, and notes limits to availability by location and that demand response helps cover peak periods while longer-term generation/storage projects are developed.
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Executive Roundtable: The Coordination Imperative
Data Center Frontier convened an Executive Roundtable exploring coordination challenges in delivering multi-hundred-megawatt and gigawatt-scale AI data center campuses.
- Main announcement/action: The roundtable (Q1 2026) with panelists Christopher Gorthy (DPR Construction), Miranda Gardiner (iMasons Climate Accord), Miles Whitling (Maddox Industrial Transformer), and Mike Connaughton (Leviton Network Solutions) examined fragmentation across utilities, suppliers, builders, and operators and recommended concrete practices including early stakeholder collaboration, a single integrated schedule tying owner, vendors, GC, trades and commissioning teams, and consistent two- to three-week look-ahead reviews and onsite coordination to align multi-hundred-megawatt to gigawatt projects.
- Background and other details: Panelists highlighted moving from commitments to execution on sustainability (renewable procurement, grid interconnections, advanced cooling, heat recovery), the role of hyperscale-led coordination and standards bodies (Open Compute Project, updates to TIA 942), the importance of aligning with financial institutions, insurance, and private equity, and strategies like bringing suppliers into design phase and shifting from transactional bids to strategic supplier partnerships.
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Jensen Huang Maps the AI Factory Era at NVIDIA GTC 2026
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced that AI is entering an infrastructure phase and unveiled hardware, software, and reference architectures to build gigawatt-scale “AI factories” for continuous inference.
- Main announcement: Nvidia unveiled new infrastructure components including Grace Blackwell NVLink72, Vera Rubin (rack-scale systems with ~3.6 exaflops per rack and 45°C hot-water liquid cooling), the Vera Rubin DSX AI Factory reference architecture and Omniverse DSX digital-twin blueprint, and software layers OpenClaw / Nemo / Nemotron to orchestrate and secure agentic AI systems; Nvidia estimated a $1 trillion AI infrastructure market and cited an industry shift to continuous inference.
- Details & partners: Nvidia described hybrid architectures integrating Groq accelerators (disaggregated inference via Dynamo orchestration), a production co-packaged optical switch built with TSMC, DSX integrations with partners (Cadence, Dassault Systèmes, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Vertiv, Trane Technologies, Switch) and energy partners (GE Vernova, Siemens Energy, Hitachi Energy, Emerald AI); the keynote also referenced venture funding > $150 billion for AI startups and examples like Nestlé reducing compute costs by 83% on a GPU-accelerated workload.
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US Data Centre Pipeline Hits 241 GW, Growth Slows in Q4: Wood Mackenzie
Wood Mackenzie reported that the disclosed U.S. data centre pipeline reached 241 GW by end-2025, while Q4 additions slowed to about 25 GW.
- Main finding: The disclosed U.S. data centre pipeline reached 241 GW by end-2025; Q4 2025 additions were ~25 GW (about half of Q3). Large-load capacity tied to construction or electricity supply agreements is ~183 GW (≈22% of U.S. peak demand in 2025), and developers shifted to executing existing projects due to load queue constraints and speculative mega-project activity in the U.S. South and Southwest.
- Additional details: The report projects major developers will increase capital spending by about $94 billion versus 2025 (growth expected to slow in 2026). Oracle Corporation has taken on significant debt for its “Stargate” campuses (many relying on on-site generation). ERCOT and PJM account for 72% of large-load commitments; Texas leads planned capacity and on-site generation, while New Mexico, Indiana, and Wyoming saw the fastest Q4 project growth. The report also notes proposed grid/interconnection rule changes in ERCOT and Southwest Power Pool that could require new generation contracts or introduce non-firm transmission/curtailment risks.
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Landowners and Locals are Fighting AI Expansion of High-Voltage Power Lines
PPL has announced plans to build a 500-kilovolt transmission line (the 12-mile “Sugarloaf” project) that could cross John Zola’s 40-acre property in eastern Pennsylvania.
- Project details and local action: The 12-mile Sugarloaf project would reuse and expand an existing corridor, involve 240-foot metal towers and require a wide corridor (up to 200-foot-wide in some projects); PPL serves more than 1.5 million customers, projects peak electricity demand to more than triple by 2030, has offered landowners cash payments (offers reported rising from $17,000 to $85,000 for one owner) and may pursue eminent domain if landowners refuse.
- Background and national context: The article places the Sugarloaf dispute in a broader national trend driven by AI-era data center demand: a $1.7 billion proposed Pennsylvania-spanning line, a $22 billion Midwest transmission package under dispute, and utilities forecasting transmission spending to nearly $50 billion a year by 2028; opponents include landowners, conservationists, state regulators and regional stakeholders.
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The Gigawatt Bottleneck: Power Constraints Define AI Data Center Growth
Bloom Energy has released the 2026 Data Center Power Report finding electricity availability has become a defining boundary on data center expansion.
- Main announcement: The Bloom Energy 2026 Data Center Power Report concludes electricity availability is now a primary constraint for data center growth; it projects U.S. IT load could rise from ~80 GW (2025) to ~150 GW (2028), and highlights major grid forecast revisions such as ERCOT increasing its 2030 data center demand projection from 29 GW to 77 GW and a possible statewide peak of 218 GW by 2031. The report also states roughly one-third of U.S. data centers may rely entirely on onsite power by 2030 and that ~20% of campuses could exceed 1 GW by 2030, rising to nearly 1 in 3 by 2035.
- Background and details: The analysis is based on surveys of hyperscalers, colocation providers, utilities, and equipment suppliers through 2025 and documents operational shifts: Texas may exceed 40 GW by 2028 (nearly 30% national share); Georgia market share projected +75% while several legacy markets could lose >50% relative share; utilities and developers show a 1–2 year expectation gap on “time to power”; >70% of developers are evaluating onsite power providers; by 2028, 60% expect higher-voltage busways and 45% expect DC architectures.
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Digital Infrastructure Boom Faces Complex Labor Crisis
William Self of Mercer warned that labor — not capital, land, or energy — is the single biggest constraint on the current data center buildout during a Marsh-hosted webinar on March 9.
- Main announcement/action:William Self (Mercer) stated the workforce shortfall could be 75,000–140,000 skilled workers over the next few years; he said companies must plan for two talent phases (construction trades vs. long-term operations) and build labor pipelines via apprenticeships, community college partnerships, veteran pipelines, and in-house academies. The webinar was hosted by Marsh on March 9.
- Background and details: Self flagged geographic shifts from hubs (Northern Virginia, Phoenix, Dallas) to emerging locales (Columbus, Ohio; South Bend, Ind.; Abilene, Texas; rural Louisiana; Texas Panhandle), noted a resulting boomtown dynamic and service shortfalls, reported cross-industry poaching (power/utilities, defense, process industries), mentioned a risk-based pay response to a “psychological burden” tied to conflict in the Middle East, and cited typical data center technician pay of $60,000–$90,000 annually.
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Illinois to data centers: Bring your own renewables and skip the line
The Protecting Our Water, Energy, and Ratepayers Act (POWER Act) has been introduced in Illinois to incentivize data centers to build or procure new clean energy by offering fast interconnection and guaranteed access to the amount of clean power they procure.
- Main action: The bill would give data centers a fast-track grid connection if they submit a clean energy plan that procures 80% of predicted annual demand from new clean energy by 2030 and 100% by 2045, and it guarantees uninterrupted access to the amount of clean energy they pay to build or acquire; it also allows utilities to curtail facilities that fail to meet clean-energy thresholds during high-demand periods.
- Additional details and context: The bill requires data centers to pay for transmission and substation upgrades, contribute to a public benefits and affordability fund (amounts set by peak demand), funds a compensation fund for community groups intervening in regulatory proceedings, mandates quarterly water-use reports and community-benefit agreements, and is supported by the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition and groups like Vote Solar and the Union of Concerned Scientists; the Illinois legislative session ends in late May and the measure will undergo consensus-building.
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Valley Data Center to be Acquired with Plans for Major Expansion
RadiusDC has announced a definitive agreement to acquire phoenixNAP’s Phoenix, Arizona data center and colocation business, with closing expected in Q2 2026.
- Acquisition details: RadiusDC will acquire the existing Phoenix colocation facility, interconnection infrastructure, and development rights; upon closing RadiusDC will expand DC1 to 8 megawatts of IT power and develop DC2 to add up to 18 megawatts, with initial DC2 phases expected online beginning first half of 2028, positioning the Phoenix I campus to scale to approximately 26 megawatts of total critical IT power capacity; closing is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
- Background & advisors: Approximately 80% of phoenixNAP’s global business will remain independently owned and operated by phoenixNAP, which will remain a tenant in the Phoenix facility; financial and legal advisors include J.P. Morgan (financial advisor to RadiusDC), BofA Securities (exclusive financial advisor to phoenixNAP), Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Snell & Wilmer LLP, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.