North Dakota Data Center News

Dec 17, 2025

Our top 25 accomplishments of 2025

Fresh Energy has summarized its 2025 achievements advancing clean energy and climate policy in Minnesota and outlined priority decarbonization actions for 2026.

Key 2025 actions included: defending Minnesota’s 100% clean electricity law from rollbacks, helping secure PUC approval for 6,080 MW of new wind, solar, and storage by 2030, driving a data center policy package into law with consumer and environmental protections, supporting multiple electrification, energy efficiency, EV charging, and bill-credit pilots, influencing residential energy code updates and industrial decarbonization funding (including $200 million in Climate Smart Food Systems grants), and advocating for MISO transmission expansions and against federal vehicle emissions rollbacks.
Looking ahead to 2026, Fresh Energy plans to: ensure progress toward 100% clean electricity by 2040, provide policy leadership on Sustainable Aviation Fuel, co-create a technical roadmap for industrial decarbonization, advocate for community-centered cumulative impacts rules, engage in ECO triennial planning and transportation electrification plans, and continue addressing hard-to-decarbonize sectors through grid, renewables, and clean technology investments in Minnesota.

Dec 16, 2025

Uptime Institute's Max Smolaks: Power, Racks, and the Economics of the AI Data Center Boom

Uptime Institute research analyst Max Smolaks discusses infrastructure forces reshaping AI data centers in a Data Center Frontier podcast episode (published December 16, 2025).

Main announcement/action: Smolaks outlines that AI capacity is being built where power exists, not traditional data center markets — citing a crypto-to-AI pivot (former crypto-mining sites repurposed for AI), Applied Digital developing roughly half a gigawatt of AI data center capacity in North Dakota, and industry alignment around 800V DC power distribution and rack-level changes (racks moving toward 200–300 kilowatts per rack). The episode date is December 16, 2025; Smolaks spoke in context of OCP Global Summit 2025 (San Jose) and ongoing industry tracking by Uptime Intelligence.
Background and supporting details: The conversation covers growing liquid cooling complexity (need for CFD, digital twins, new commissioning/load banks), rack disaggregation into “compute/power/network” groupings, risk and operator resistance to liquid cooling (filtration, corrosion control), energy storage and UPS/rack smoothing approaches (including GPU PowerBurn), and concentration of GPU-driven economics with Nvidia influencing design. Concrete technical details include 200–300 kW per rack, 800V DC distribution, and mention of capacitors integrated into rack/power shelves to manage “spiky” AI loads.

Dec 16, 2025

Renewable energy is key to powering Texas data centers

Google announced it plans to construct three new data centers in Texas at a cost of $40 billion.

Main announcement & implementation details: Google will build three new data centers in Texas at an estimated $40 billion and has committed a $30 million Energy Impact Fund to scale energy initiatives; the company reports more than 6,200 megawatts of new generation and capacity contracted via power purchase agreements. The OpenAI/Oracle Stargate campus near Abilene has its first two buildings operational and the remaining six buildings are expected to be completed by mid-2026.
Context, background and project metrics: Texas currently has 375 data centers operating and 70 under construction (Baxtel); ERCOT saw large-load interconnection requests rise from 56 GW (Sept 2024) to 205 GW one year later. Renewables growth includes nearly 877–900 solar projects under development in Texas, >200% increase in ERCOT solar capacity over four years, and 8 TWh of wind/solar curtailed in 2024 due to transmission limits. The SEIA warns federal permitting changes are slowing some solar and storage projects.

Dec 15, 2025

Environmental Activists Abandon Persuasion For Litigation

Greenpeace International has filed an “anti-SLAPP” suit in the Netherlands against Energy Transfer after a North Dakota jury found Greenpeace liable and ordered roughly $660 million in damages; separately, California’s attorney general and environmental groups sued ExxonMobil over alleged contributions to plastic pollution in September 2024.

Main action: Greenpeace International filed an anti-SLAPP case in the Netherlands against Energy Transfer after a North Dakota jury found Greenpeace liable for defamation, property damage, and civil conspiracy and ordered roughly $660 million in damages; the author frames this as an attempt to escape responsibility following the domestic verdict.
Background and additional details: In September 2024California’s attorney general and environmental groups sued ExxonMobil over single-use plastics despite ExxonMobil’s claims it does not manufacture single-use plastics and has processed more than 60 million pounds of plastic waste into raw materials; the piece also references a 2024 YouGov poll showing 73% of voters rank price and availability of energy as top concerns and warns that litigation could hinder energy supply needed for AI-driven data centers.

Dec 11, 2025

United States Cloud Computing Provider Using Nvidia AI Chips $44 Billion CoreWeave Issues $2.25 Billion Convertible Bonds (1.75% Convertible Senior Notes Due 2031) at $215.60 Per Share Representing +150% Premium to Last Reported Sale Price (8/12/25: $86.24)

CoreWeave announced issuance of $2.25 billion convertible senior notes due 2031 and earlier announced a $9 billion all-share acquisition of Core Scientific.

Main announcement: CoreWeave will issue $2.25 billion of convertible bonds (1.75% convertible senior notes due 2031) convertible at $215.60 per share, stated to represent a +150% premium to the last reported sale price (8/12/25: $86.24). The issuance date reported 11th December and the note maturity is 2031.
Background and related actions: In 10 July 2025 filings/announcements CoreWeave agreed to buy Core Scientific for $9 billion in an all-share transaction (reported +66% premium to unaffected close 25/6/25: $12.30). Other verifiable details: CoreWeave IPO on Nasdaq in April 2025, raised $1.5 billion in the IPO; previous financing and investor activity includes reported talks at $16 billion valuation (Mar 2024), reported Cisco investment at $23 billion valuation (Oct 2024), reported Blackstone $7.6 billion loan default issues (2024–2025), and planned/reported IPO raises of $2.5–4 billion in 2025 in press reports.

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.

Dec 1, 2025

Hurricanes in 2024 led to the most hours without power in the United States in 10 years

U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that U.S. electricity customers experienced an average of 11 hours of electricity interruptions in 2024, nearly twice the annual average of the previous decade.

Main finding: The EIA’s Electric Power Annual 2024 shows U.S. customers averaged 11 hours of interruptions in 2024; Hurricanes Beryl, Helene, and Milton accounted for 80% of hours without electricity, and interruptions attributed to major events averaged nearly 9 hours in 2024 versus nearly 4 hours (2014–2023). The report uses industry metrics SAIDI and SAIFI to characterize outages.
Details & state impacts: The report cites South Carolina averaged nearly 53 hours without power in 2024; Hurricane Beryl left 2.6 million Texas customers without power (July), Hurricane Helene left 5.9 million customers across 10 states (with at least 1.2 million in South Carolina), and Hurricane Milton left 3.4 million Florida customers without power; Hawaii averaged 4.4 interruptions, while several states (Arizona, South Dakota, North Dakota, Massachusetts) averaged less than 2 hours of interruptions.

Nov 3, 2025

Energy Affordability: Price Trends and Factors

Vincent Potter of the NC Clean Energy Technology Center outlines factors driving U.S. electricity price increases and notes that many utilities have active rate cases as of October 2025.

Main announcement/action: The article explains that data center expansion, infrastructure upgrade and replacement costs, and fuel cost volatility are creating upward pressure on retail electricity prices; as of October 2025, at least 50 electric utilities in 29 states and Puerto (Puerto Rico) have rate cases pending before regulators. The piece cites EIA data showing residential prices rose from 16.61¢/kWh in July 2024 to 17.47¢/kWh in July 2025, and an overall 2020–2025 increase of 3.88¢/kWh nationally (with California ≈ +12.5¢/kWh).
Background and details: The author highlights data center maps and the DELTa database (NC Clean Energy Technology Center partnered with Smart Electric Power Alliance to compile/release the Database of Emerging Large-load Tariffs) as tools to track large-load tariff developments; it also documents supply-chain delays (Reuters reported ~five-year lead times for new gas turbines) and rising equipment lead times and costs, plus that natural gas supplied over 40% of U.S. electricity in 2024, with wholesale gas prices ranging ~$2.10–$6.60 per Mcf, a 2025 EIA projection of $3.50 per Mcf, and delivered industrial gas ≈ $3.30–$7.70 per Mcf.

Oct 28, 2025

Data Centers Are Turning to Gas Generators for Prime Power to Eliminate Long Lead Times for Grid Connections

Data center developers and equipment suppliers are increasingly using natural gas generator sets and packaged generator solutions as near-term prime power to meet rapid AI-driven compute demand.

Main announcement/action: Data center developers (notably Joule Capital Partners with Caterpillar and CAT dealer Wheeler Machinery) are deploying natural gas gensets as prime power at large campuses (Millard County, Utah up to 4 GW planned) with fleets of Caterpillar G3520K (2.5 MW each) and >1 GWh battery storage; the Wonder Valley, Alberta project will use onsite natural gas to power an 8-GW data center with the first 1.5 GW scheduled for completion by 2027. Lead times for utility power can be three to seven years, prompting BYOP (bring your own power) and rapid delivery advantages for gas packages.
Background and supporting details:Global Market Insights (GMI) valued the global gas generator market at $6.9 billion in 2024, projecting 8.8% CAGR to $16 billion by 2034, with >330 kVA and >750 kVA segments growing fastest; Fidelity Manufacturing expanded staffing from 40 to >500 and opened a second 86,000 sq ft factory (additional 25,000 sq ft production and warehouse planned) to meet data-center-driven demand. Typical large gas engines available up to ~2.5 MW; custom packaged features, ASCE/SEI and local codes, and OSHA/IBC-compliant access (aluminum framing, anti-slip surfaces) are emphasized. Lead times for larger packaged deliveries can be up to one year or more.

Oct 6, 2025

Xcel, Sparkfund Propose Battery Storage Network Across Minnesota

Xcel Energy has proposed under its CapacityConnect plan to install up to 200 MW of distributed battery storage across Minnesota by 2028, in partnership with Sparkfund.

Deployment details: The proposal targets up to 200 MW by 2028, with individual host sites sized 1 MW to 3 MW (approx. shipping-container scale) located at local businesses, commercial or industrial sites, or nonprofit organizations; hosts receive direct payments and Xcel will operate each battery to charge when energy is inexpensive and dispatch during peak demand.
Context and implementation: The procurement supports Xcel’s Upper Midwest Energy Plan (which calls for 600 MW of storage by 2030); Xcel will file the proposal with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, scale deployments in collaboration with Sparkfund, prioritize local workers, comply with Xcel’s labor standards, and review performance, costs, and customer experience as the program grows.

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