Minnesota Data Center Intel

Recent Minnesota data center news

• Oct 1, 2026

  DataBank Acquires Building Housing MSP2 Data Center in Minneapolis

  DataBank announced that it has acquired the building housing its MSP2 data center in Eagan, Minnesota, strengthening its strategy to own and control the real estate beneath its facilities.

  • The building at 3255 Neil Armstrong Blvd, Eagan, MN was previously leased and now becomes an owned asset supporting the MSP2 facility.
  • DataBank says the move supports greater operational control, long-term investment in infrastructure, and reliability for enterprise and institutional clients; it also noted it operates four Minneapolis data centers and has land for a fifth at its Brooklyn Park campus.
• Sep 25, 2026

  Retired and Retiring Coal Plants Offer the Grid’s Fastest Path to New Capacity

  Briggs White argues that retiring coal plants should be repurposed as the grid’s fastest path to new capacity. This is a commentary article, not a first-time corporate announcement.

  • White says coal sites offer interconnection, transmission, water, industrial land, transportation access, and a trained workforce, making them attractive for data centers, manufacturing, electrification, solar, gas, and nuclear projects.
  • Examples cited include D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments’ 240-MW solar-and-storage project in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana; Xcel Energy’s Sherco site in Becker, Minnesota with 710 MW online today and 910 MW by 2029; and TerraPower’s Natrium reactor near the Naughton coal plant in Wyoming. The article also notes a 2022 study finding coal-site reuse could cut a new nuclear plant’s capital cost by 15% to 35% versus greenfield.
• Sep 24, 2026

  Facilities fueling energy storage installations

  The article reports that U.S. commercial-sector energy storage installations are expected to rise 27% annually in megawatt terms through 2031, driven in part by data centers and backup-power demand.

  • The American Clean Power Association and Wood Mackenzie said the U.S. Energy Storage Monitor was released this week for Q3 2026 and forecasts strong growth across commercial, utility-scale, and residential storage.
  • The story cites Google’s earlier deal with Form Energy and Xcel Energy for 30 GWh of iron-air battery storage at a data center, and notes that commercial property storage installed in Q2 was 48 MW while utility-scale deployments reached 4.7 GW/17.6 GWh and residential deployments totaled 676 MW.
• Sep 23, 2026

  Climate Change Solutions - September 22, 2026

  Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) has published a climate-focused newsletter previewing an upcoming Super El Niño briefing and summarizing recent Capitol Hill activity.

  • EESI announced an online briefing on Friday, September 25 at noon EDT about Super El Niño, with welcome remarks from Reps. Mike Flood and Eric Sorensen and RSVP links provided.
  • The newsletter also notes the House and Senate action on several bills, including the Water Resources Development Act of 2026, the Ratepayer Protection Act affecting data center-related grid upgrades, and the Hydropower Licensing Transparency Act; it also promotes EESI resources and a new podcast episode.
  • This is a newsletter/update, not a standalone corporate deal announcement; it references prior and current legislative developments and upcoming events rather than announcing a new funding commitment.
• Sep 22, 2026

  US energy dynamics extend far beyond Washington

  adelphi, Atlantik-Brücke, and adelphi global co-hosted an event in Berlin titled Understanding US Energy Dynamics: Opportunities for Germany to Engage.

  • The discussion focused on US state policy, regional electricity markets, rising power demand, and the role of battery storage, with participants including Jennifer Morgan, Heiko Willenberg (RWE), Zachary Karas (PowerCo), Jamie Long (Minnesota Representative and DFL Floor Leader), and Tom Opdyke (R Street Institute).
  • Speakers said long delivery times for gas turbines strengthen the near-term case for faster-deployable technologies; they also highlighted the impact of data centre-driven electricity demand, renewables, permitting, siting, and grid infrastructure on future growth.
• Sep 22, 2026 · Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

  Congress Should Make the CHIPS Act’s Investment Tax Credit Permanent

  ITIF has published an opinion article arguing that Congress should make the CHIPS Act’s Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit permanent.

  • The article says Section 48D under the CHIPS and Science Act has helped drive more than 160 semiconductor projects across 30 states since 2020, with $825.8 billion in announced private investment.
  • It notes the current construction deadline of December 31, 2026, says the credit was 25% originally and later increased to 35% for qualifying property placed in service after December 31, 2025.
• Sep 21, 2026 · Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

  Mobilizing for Techno-Economic War, Part 7: Transforming Regulatory Policy

  ITIF has published a policy report arguing for a major transformation of U.S. regulatory policy to support national techno-economic competition with China.

  • The report says Congress should centralize national issues such as AI regulation, preempt many state privacy/AI laws, and reduce federal barriers for nationally important projects such as industrial parks, infrastructure, and data centers.
  • It also argues for NEPA repeal, Section 404 repeal, size-neutral rules, antitrust reform, and a new Commerce Department process to designate up to 100 projects per year for streamlined approval; it also proposes federally designated industrial readiness zones of 50–100 sites of at least 3,000 acres each.
  • Monetary values mentioned include $98 billion–$112 billion annually in potential out-of-state privacy compliance costs, $1 trillion+ over 10 years, $650 million in a Facebook BIPA-related settlement cited in the report, and $100 billion a year for carbon removal referenced in a supporting example.
• Sep 9, 2026

  Google to buy energy from solar-storage project at former coal mine

  Google has announced that it will purchase the energy, capacity and clean energy attributes from MN8 Energy’s Mammoth Solar project in West Virginia, with Eos Energy Enterprises supplying zinc-based long-duration storage.

  • The project includes 86 MW of utility-scale solar, 10 MW/100 MWh of zinc-based storage, and 70 MW/280 MWh of lithium-ion storage; solar is expected online in 2028, with storage in 2029 and 2030.
  • The release says the project is designed to match clean energy capacity with Google’s regional data center load profiles and add capacity in the PJM region; it also references a separate Google-backed 300 MW/30 GWh iron-air battery project in Minnesota.
• Sep 8, 2026

  Verizon, Corning Ink Multibillion-Dollar Fiber Deal

  Corning has announced a multibillion-dollar fiber supply deal with Verizon running from 2027 through 2032.

  • Verizon said the agreement will support its plan to expand its fiber footprint to 40-50 million passings and to access more than 80 million miles of fiber.
  • The companies did not disclose the exact dollar amount or other terms; the article also notes similar fiber deals involving Amazon, Meta ($6 billion in January), and NVIDIA ($500 million in May), plus a supply crunch tied to BEAD domestic manufacturing rules.
• Aug 28, 2026

  Roundup: Femme Executive Health / Vintage fest / Microsoft employee concerns

  Microsoft has addressed employee concerns about the environmental and community impacts of its expanding data center network.

  • The company said AI growth has made its emissions goals harder to meet, and it is highlighting energy efficiency, water-use improvements, and plans for up to 40 gigawatts of renewable power.
  • The article says Microsoft’s emissions rose 25% in 2025 amid data center expansion, and that the company is facing growing opposition to data centers; this is presented as a recent response, not a first-time project announcement.