Michigan Data Center Intel

Recent Michigan data center news

• Jan 21, 2026

  Virginia proposes 20.78GW storage mandate as Trump, governors call for emergency PJM grid measures

  Virginia state delegate Richard C. ‘Rip’ Sullivan, Jr has introduced HB895 to raise mandatory energy storage procurement targets for Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy Virginia.

  • Main announcement: HB895 would require Appalachian Power to add 780MW short-duration by 2040 and 520MW long-duration by 2045, and Dominion Energy to add 16,000MW short-duration and 3,480MW long-duration by 2045; the bill is nearly identical to HB2537 (vetoed May 2025) but raises Dominion’s short-duration target from 5,220MW to 16,000MW within the same timeframe.
  • Background and related actions: The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of governors urged PJM (16 January) to hold an emergency procurement auction and to build more than US$15 billion of baseload generation; PJM responded by initiating a “Reliability Backstop Procurement” and directed immediate process discussions and deadlines to be considered at the 22 January Members Committee meeting. The bill and procurement push are motivated by rapidly rising demand in Virginia—driven largely by data centres—and recommendations from groups such as MAREC Action, NRDC, and Environment America.
• Jan 21, 2026

  Data centers could drive Michigan air pollution higher with climate law loophole: Science nonprofit

  The Union of Concerned Scientists has called on the Michigan Legislature to enact a CO2 Reduction Policy to close a legal loophole that exempts electricity exports from state clean-energy targets.

  • Main action: UCS released a report recommending a “CO2 Reduction Policy” that would cap fossil fuel burning for out-of-state sales and achieve net zero by 2050, with a phased target of 80% reductions for out-of-state sales by 2040 and 100% by 2045; the report projects electricity exports rising from “minimal” today to more than 56 gigawatt-hours annually and forecasts fossil fuel emissions from Michigan utilities could rise 26% between 2023 and 2050 if the loophole remains.
  • Context and details: Michigan law currently requires 100% clean energy for retail sales by 2040 but does not apply to electricity sold to other states (per Michigan Public Service Commission); UCS notes Michigan’s two largest utilities could see up to 22 gigawatts of load growth from data centers and that even 5 GW of new demand could, combined with electrification, double state energy consumption by 2050.
• Jan 21, 2026

  Multi-Partner Project: Multi-GPU Performance Portability Analysis for CFD Simulations at Scale

  Panagiotis-Eleftherakis and co-authors (REFMAP project) have published an arXiv paper analyzing the performance portability of the SOD2D Spectral Elements CFD framework across AMD and NVIDIA GPUs (arXiv:2601.14159, submitted 20 Jan 2026).

  • Main action: The paper reports a multi-level performance and scalability analysis of SOD2D, including single-GPU characterization and scale tests on the LUMI multi-GPU cluster, documenting 0.69× - 3.91× deviations in acceleration speedup and highlighting variability across vendor-specific compiler stacks and memory-access optimizations.
  • Background and details: The work is produced by a multi-institution team (National Technical University of Athens, KTH, HPE France, TU Delft, University of Michigan) under the REFMAP context; it provides a full-stack design-space characterization (application, software, hardware) and cites profiling results from LUMI; submission date 20 Jan 2026 and DOI https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.14159.
• Jan 21, 2026

  Months later, lawsuit between nature school and bitcoin mine continues

  Lake Superior Academy (LSA) has filed a civil lawsuit against Odessa Partners over noise from a bitcoin-mining data center across the street; the dispute has continued into its seventh month.

  • Main announcement: LSA filed a civil lawsuit in June 2025 seeking damages for irreparable harm caused by noise from a cluster of data center units; mediation attempts stalled, the judge denied a jury trial request and ordered another 120-day mediation period.
  • Background & procedural details: LSA Superintendent Susie Schlehuber described stalled mediation where she asked the operator not to grow or become louder in exchange for dropping litigation; Odessa Partners filed a counter-suit seeking a bond to cover alleged damages (the judge did not grant the bond request).
• Jan 17, 2026

  Data center news: DTE agrees to power terms for Saline Township data center

  DTE Energy accepted conditions from the Michigan Public Service Commission for special contracts to power an OpenAI and Oracle data center in Saline Township.

  • DTE Energy accepted commission conditions to supply power under special contracts for a proposed 1.4-gigawatt Saline Township data center involving OpenAI and Oracle; Attorney General Dana Nessel and others requested a rehearing of the Dec. 18 fast-tracked approval, while DTE reserved rights to challenge future commission decisions and confirmed aggregate revenues will cover service costs.
  • Related local actions and details: Lyon Township residents and experts flagged risks for a planned 1.8-million-square-foot site; Saline Township site work continues on a 2.2-million-square-foot project after rezoning of 575 acres; Lansing City Council proposed dedicating 10% of Board of Water and Light revenue from data center utility use to housing services (final vote expected by late February); Saginaw adopted a 6-month moratorium to craft rules and encourage development on post-industrial brownfields; Van Buren Township and Allen Park controversies noted (Van Buren: up to 3.6 million gallons of water a day; Allen Park: 26-megawatt proposal).
• Jan 17, 2026

  Will AI kickstart a new age of nuclear power?

  The UN article reports that the IAEA convened policymakers, technology companies and nuclear industry leaders in Vienna to explore how nuclear power can enable AI expansion and how AI can drive innovation in nuclear energy.

  • Main announcement/action: The IAEA-led discussions in Vienna brought together policymakers, technology companies and nuclear industry leaders to examine nuclear energy as a core solution for powering AI; cited figures include expected global electricity growth of >10,000 TWh by 2035, 71 new reactors under construction, and 441 reactors currently operating. The article highlights concrete corporate actions: Microsoft signed a 20-year power purchase agreement that enabled the restart of Unit One at Three Mile Island, and Google has signed an agreement to buy energy from multiple small modular reactors (a global first) with possible operation by 2030.
  • Background and additional details: The piece lists evidence and timelines: data-centre demand rose by more than three quarters between 2023 and 2024, and is expected to account for over 20% of electricity-demand growth in advanced economies by 2030; the US is specifically noted for predicted AI-driven power consumption surpassing combined aluminium, steel, cement and chemical sectors by the end of the decade. It also notes SMRs have shorter deployment footprints and upgraded safety systems versus large reactors (large plants often have ~10-year lead times), and that the IAEA is working with regulators and industry to accelerate SMR viability.
• Jan 15, 2026

  EPA drops health cost calculations for air pollution: How it could harm Detroiters

  The Environmental Protection Agency will stop calculating monetary health benefits (prevented deaths and health-care cost savings) for ozone and PM 2.5 in its rulemaking process (Jan. 9 decision).

  • Main action: The EPA announced on Jan. 9 it will stop monetizing health benefits from reductions in ozone and PM 2.5 while continuing to count industry compliance costs; the agency said it is “refining its methods” and will still consider pollutant impacts but not their monetary valuation at this time.
  • Background and related details: The change follows legal and policy battles including a 2025 finding that Wayne County failed to meet the EPA’s PM 2.5 standard, a Dec. 2025 Sixth Circuit ruling returning the Detroit region to ozone nonattainment, and concerns the change could affect auto emissions rules and emissions from natural gas turbines at data centers; related coverage notes the EPA seeks a $140 million civil penalty vs the facility’s proposed $5 million settlement in an EES Coke Battery case.
• Jan 14, 2026

  Patented: Machine Learning Treatment for Depression and More North Texas Inventive Activity

  The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System, Stanford University, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have been granted a patent for a machine-learning method to identify depression patients likely to respond to antidepressant treatment.

  • Main announcement: The three institutions received USPTO Patent No. 12490933 for a method that uses machine learning to identify subjects with depression who will respond to antidepressant treatment, listing Madhukar Trivedi among the inventors; the patent application listed is 19072469 on 03/06/2025 (278 days app to issue).
  • Background and context: The article is a Dallas Innovates weekly patents roundup reporting 100 patents granted in the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metro for the week of 12/9/25 (ranked No. 11 of 250 metros); it catalogs numerous other patents and top assignees (e.g., Texas Instruments Inc. (10 patents), Toyota (9), Samsung (7)) and provides USPTO links for individual patents.
• Jan 14, 2026

  Data center protest in Van Buren Township targets 1-gigawatt proposal

  Panattoni Development Co. has proposed an 800,000‑square‑foot data center in Van Buren Township and a public protest is planned ahead of a township planning commission meeting.

  • Project details: The proposal describes an 800,000‑square‑foot facility with potential energy demand of roughly 1 gigawatt, and cooling water use estimated at between 2 and 3.6 million gallons per day (water to be purchased from the township, supplied by the Great Lakes Water Authority). The developer plans to use ultra‑low sulfur diesel backup generators with exhaust scrubbers that the FAQ says will remove 90% of particulates. The developer is expected to formally present to the planning commission on Feb. 11. A public protest is scheduled Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Van Buren Township Hall, 46425 Tyler Road, Van Buren Township, MI 48111.
  • Context and background: Local organizers say public outreach has been inadequate and a petition opposing the project has over 1,300 signatures; DTE Energy (Daniel Mahoney) submitted a letter of support stating that tax break law protects residential customers, while outside experts have questioned whether the law prevents costs from being passed to other ratepayers. The planning commission packet does not include Panattoni’s proposal for the immediate meeting; township staff confirmed the Feb. 11 hearing date.
• Jan 14, 2026

  Climate Change Solutions - January 13, 2026

  The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) announced its first Congressional briefing of the year, a wildfire solutions briefing on Tuesday, January 27, hosted with the Federation of American Scientists.

  • Main announcement: EESI will host a Congressional briefing titled “Igniting Innovation: Progress and a Path Forward for Wildfire Policy” on Tuesday, January 27, 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. (reception to follow) at Russell Senate Office Building, Room SR-385 and online; RSVP available on the EESI briefing page and a reception follows the briefing.
  • Background & related actions: The newsletter summarizes recent federal actions signed by the President including MAPWaters (P.L. 119-62) improving recreational waterway data collection, Save Our Seas 2.0 (P.L. 119-65) reauthorizing EPA marine debris programs, Great Lakes Fishery Research Reauthorization (P.L. 119-67) for USGS research funding, and La Paz County Solar Energy and Job Creation Act (P.L. 119-68) (expected to create more than 700 jobs and provide enough solar and battery capacity to power about 75,000 homes); it also notes wildfire costs of $424 billion annually and highlights EESI coverage on data center water use (cited by multiple media outlets).