Massachusetts Data Center Intel

Recent Massachusetts data center news

• Jan 22, 2026

  Can rising power demand boost renewables above policy obstacles in 2026?

  The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) set new July 4 construction deadlines and strict FEOC rules that curtail many Inflation Reduction Act tax credits and have immediate implications for project eligibility.

  • OBBBA actions and timelines: The OBBBA established a July 4 construction commencement deadline to qualify wind and solar projects for IRA production and investment tax credits; the FEOC rule went into effect Dec. 31, 2025 with Treasury guidance pending; the residential solar credit sunsetted at the end of 2025; commercial projects that commence construction by July 4 can qualify if placed in service by Dec. 31, 2030, while projects that do not commence construction by July 4 may still qualify if placed in service by Dec. 31, 2027.
  • Industry response and state actions: Developers (e.g., DSD Renewables) are triaging projects into mature / less-mature / at-risk buckets and cancelling or down-sizing projects that cannot meet deadlines; Treasury eliminated the 5% safe harbor test for >1.5 MW projects; states like Illinois (CRGA: 3 GW storage by 2030) and California (SB-254 transmission investment accelerator) are pursuing measures to speed transmission, interconnection and storage deployment; the Department of the Interior has issued stop-work orders and cancelled the environmental review for the 6.2-GW Esmeralda 7 project, and Dominion Energy has stated its 2.6 GW CVOW project will serve large data center demand.
• Jan 20, 2026

  Switched Source Expands Grid-Enhancing Technology Deployments by 60%

  Switched Source reported a 60% increase in deployments of its Phase-EQ grid-enhancing technology over the past year, with units now operating across more than 10 utility service areas from Alaska to Florida.

  • Deployment growth & scope: Switched Source reports a 60% increase in deployments year-over-year, with Phase-EQ units operating in more than 10 utility service areas including New York, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Texas, and Washington state; field data from operational sites shows 10% to 25% increase in load-serving capacity on active distribution circuits.
  • Device function & program support: Phase-EQ is described as the first distribution automation device that balances power flow between the three phases by exchanging real and reactive power; the company was founded in 2016 and the project is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E SCALEUP program. A recent Georgia Power deployment is designed to reduce load imbalance by half and voltage imbalance by more than 30%, with the utility supplying substation-level data to track performance.
• Jan 20, 2026 · Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

  Advancing Multilateral AI Partnerships: A Pre-Summit Event for 2026 AI Impact Summit

  The Center for Data Innovation and The Dialogue are convening an official pre-summit event, sponsored by Google, in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2026.

  • Event announcement and core details:

    • Date & Time: January 20, 2026, 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM EST (doors open for registration at 11:30 AM; lunch served at 12:00 PM)
    • Location: 25 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC, 20001
    • Organizer & Sponsor:Center for Data Innovation and The Dialogue, sponsored by Google
    • Agenda/Subject: Three panels on AI adoption & skills, Compute Equity and resilient data centers / secure supply chains, and shared roadmap for AI policy and innovation; this pre-summit will feed directly into the 2026 India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.

  • Background and session specifics:

    • The India AI Impact Summit aims to close the global AI divide with a people-centric approach anchored in the Sutras of People, Planet, and Progress and operationalized via seven Chakras (science, human capital, safe and trusted AI, democratizing AI resources, etc.).
    • Panel 2 will address the “Compute Corridor” and discuss heterogeneous compute access, resilient data centers, secure supply chains, and interoperable safety/security standards as models for global compute equity; named speakers include representatives from OpenAI, Google Cloud, the Embassy of India, and think tanks/industry groups.
• Jan 16, 2026

  US ROUNDUP: Duke Energy, Elevate, Fluence with BrightNight and Cordelio progress BESS projects

  Duke Energy has brought online a 50MW/200MWh BESS at the former Allen coal plant in North Carolina.

  • Main announcement: Duke Energy commissioned a 50MW/200MWh battery energy storage system at the former Allen coal plant on Lake Wylie, North Carolina, costing around US$100 million, finished under budget and ahead of schedule, began serving customers in November with final testing ongoing; construction of a second 167MW/668MWh BESS will start in May on a 10-acre site, and both systems are eligible for federal ITCs covering 40% (including an additional 10% for reinvestment into an energy community).
  • Additional project actions and timelines: Fluence Energy will supply its Gridstack Pro BESS (US-made cells/modules/enclosures/thermal systems) for BrightNight and Cordelio Power’s 300MW/1,200MWh Pioneer Clean Energy Centre in Yuma County, Arizona (PPA with APS; commercial operations expected April 2027); Elevate Renewables has acquired the 150MW/600MWh Prospect Power BESS in Virginia (scheduled operations mid-2026).
    • Energy Storage Summit USA: 24-25 March 2026, Dallas, TX; agenda includes FEOC challenges, power demand forecasting, and BESS supply chain management.
• Jan 15, 2026

  Elevate Renewables Acquires Major Battery Storage Project in PJM

  Elevate Renewables has announced the acquisition of the Prospect Power battery storage project.

  • Acquisition details: Elevate Renewables (an Arclight portfolio company) has acquired the Prospect Power project: a 150-MW / 600-MWh standalone battery storage installation in Rockingham County, northern Virginia; the project is under construction and is expected to enter commercial operation mid-2026 (this summer). It is fully contracted under a 15-year PPA with Dominion Energy Virginia.
  • Background and strategy: The project sits within PJM Interconnection’s Data Center Alley and is positioned to support grid reliability amid rising load from data centers, AI, and electrification; Elevate says it will continue to scale battery storage across PJM and uses a co-location strategy with thermal generation to accelerate deployment and lower costs.
• Jan 14, 2026

  Startup IO River aims to virtualize the edge and break CDN vendor lock-in

  IO River announced it has closed a $20 million Series A funding round to accelerate deployment of its multi-edge virtualization platform.

  • Announcement: IO River raised $20 million Series A (bringing total raised to $25.4 million) to expand its multi-edge virtualization platform that decouples application-layer services from CDN infrastructure; Series A was led by Venture Guides and New Era, with participation from S Capital and private investors Ofir Ehrlich and Pavel Gurvich.
  • Context and details: The Boston-based startup (founded 2022) currently processes more than 200 petabytes monthly for paying customers in streaming, gaming, retail and SaaS; its platform uses WebAssembly and JavaScript to run microservices across heterogeneous CDN runtimes (Akamai, Cloudflare, Fastly, AWS) and integrates with Kubernetes at origin; it has partnerships with independent security vendors Check Point, Palo Alto Networks, Imperva to provide consistent security across multiple CDNs.
• Jan 14, 2026

  Emerging Data Center Markets: Key Locations to Watch in 2026

  Cushman & Wakefield reports that power and land constraints in major U.S. data center hubs are driving operators to consider secondary and tertiary markets.

  • Main announcement: Cushman & Wakefield finds power and land constraints in primary hubs (Northern Virginia, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Atlanta, Portland/Eastern Oregon) are shifting site selection toward secondary/tertiary markets; highlights include OpenAI’s Stargate (~$100 billion) and Vantage Frontier (~$25+ billion) as large upcoming projects.
  • Details/background: Regions such as Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, Central Washington, New Jersey, and Massachusetts are offering economic incentives, faster approvals, and flexible regulatory frameworks; Central Washington offers low-cost hydro power enabling 100% renewable operation but is also facing power constraints.
• Jan 14, 2026

  Comcast to Sen. Warren – White House Ballroom Donation On the Level

  Comcast rejected suggestions it engaged in misconduct over a donation tied to a new $400 million ballroom at the Trump White House.

  • Main announcement: Comcast, via outside counsel Michael Bopp (Gibson Dunn) in a Dec. 15, 2025 letter, stated the company’s donation to the $400 million ballroom included no specific limitations or conditions and that the company had no expectations of anything in return; the letter did not disclose the dollar amount Comcast gave.
  • Additional details: The article also reports Gov. Hochul saying New York has $36 million for municipal broadband; Shentel’s Glo Fiber is offering 8 Gbps symmetrical service for 400,000 locations; Wells Fargo downgraded key cable stocks citing fiber and FWA threats; Array Digital declared a dividend after closing an AT&T deal; Lufthansa signed a deal with Starlink; and there are items on Iran limiting Starlink, state prison officials backing Carr on jamming cell phones, and Ruddy urging Newsmax fans to fight a 39% cap repeal.
• Jan 12, 2026 · IT Brief Asia

  New heat sinks cool NVIDIA Jetson Thor edge modules

  Advanced Thermal Solutions has launched a new line of heat sinks specifically engineered for NVIDIA Jetson Thor modules, comprising two active designs and one passive unit for edge AI and robotics applications.

  • Product details: Portfolio includes two active coolers and one passive heat sink; Active model A: 95W TDP at 50°C, dimensions 87 x 100.8 x 20 mm, weight 104g (frameless fan in aluminium fin field); Active model B: 175W TDP at 50°C, dimensions 92 x 100.8 x 28.6 mm (including blower), weight 174g (top-mounted ATS blower); Passive: up to 100W at 50°C with 500 LFM system airflow, aluminium construction, dimensions 87 x 100.8 x 20 mm, weight 168g. All units ship with pre-assembled thermal interface material (TIM) and are available for immediate shipping.
  • Background & company details: Designed for NVIDIA Jetson Thor modules (referenced NVIDIA figures: up to 2070 FP4 TFLOPS, 128 GB memory, 40-130 W power envelope); Advanced Thermal Solutions cites engineering and software development operations in the US and India, manufacturing in Norwood, Massachusetts, partnerships with global manufacturers and distribution in Asia; wider ATS portfolio spans air cooling, liquid cooling, refrigeration approaches, and laboratory/test equipment for thermal measurement.
• Jan 12, 2026

  Scattered network data impedes automation efforts

  Enterprise Management Associates published research on how network engineering teams establish and use Network Sources of Truth (NSoT).

  • Research & key findings: EMA’s report is based on in-depth interviews with 17 network engineering professionals and documents common NSoT challenges: management buy-in, fragmented data discovery/validation (IPAMs, spreadsheets, MongoDB), and user uptake/drift. The report cites real-world budget pushback such as a quote referencing $60,000–$70,000 (USD) as a difficult business justification for purchasing a source-of-truth product.
  • Practical recommendations & context: The column recommends a proof-of-concept mindset (start with homegrown/open-source for small scope, then evaluate vendors as scale grows), use of discovery tools and IPAM integrations to reconcile scattered data, obtaining mid/upper management directives to enforce cooperation, and technical controls like federation with IPAM, integrations, role-based access controls, and CLI restrictions to prevent NSoT drift.