Nevada Data Center News

Mar 24, 2026

The Northwest Hasn’t Learned the Lessons of WPPSS (“Whoops”)

Laura Feinstein (Sightline Institute) argues that leaders should avoid building new gas-fired power plants in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and instead prioritize data center flexibility, demand response, energy efficiency, and transmission expansion to address near-term resource adequacy concerns.

Main action and evidence: The piece urges policymakers and regulators to require utilities and large electricity users to exhaust large-load flexibility and demand-side measures before approving fossil fuel infrastructure; cites a September 2025 E3 Phase 1 analysis that reported an 8.7 GW shortfall by 2030 (commonly rounded to 9 GW), which shrinks to roughly 5.6 GW when already planned resources (e.g., Carriger solar, PacifiCorp conversions) are counted. The article highlights alternatives with concrete figures: a Duke University estimate that 3.8 GW could be gained if data centers reduced power about one week per year, and a Sylvan Energy Analytics review showing data-center curtailment can eliminate the gap in multiple scenarios.
Background and concrete details: The article documents utilities’ recent actions and legislative context: PSE has contracted for six new gas turbines (filing redacted), Grant PUD approved a (temporary) 12 MW natural gas plant, PSE’s voluntary demand response currently reduces <2% of peak demand and Washington law requires ramping to 10% savings starting 2027; it notes the U.S. Department of Energy used the E3 report to justify keeping a coal plant online past Dec 31, 2025. The author characterizes the piece as an opinion/analysis urging precaution and policy alternatives rather than announcing a new transaction or partnership.

Mar 24, 2026

Experts Say Data Centers Face Permitting, Economic, and Community Support Obstacles

Chris Jordan (National League of Cities) and Jacob Levin (CTC Technology & Energy) discussed public support, permitting, zoning changes, and potential uses for BEAD nondeployment funds during a National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors webinar.

Main discussion: The panel reported that only one-third of Americans support data centers near their homes and that support would fall further if electricity bills rose (hypothetical $10/month increase halves support). They cited >1,000 hyperscale data centers globally (~600 in the U.S.), primary growth markets (Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Phoenix), and noted cities are rewriting zoning to define data centers by power draw rather than square footage (examples: Linn County added environmental provisions; Mesa, AZ added water use codes).
Policy and funding context: The panel highlighted the $21 billion BEAD nondeployment fund as potentially eligible for permitting support, fiber/conduit buildout, and AI-related infrastructure, but emphasized that permitted uses will depend on program details and state implementation.

Mar 20, 2026

Exowatt Expands to Austin as Power Constraints Reshape AI Infrastructure

Exowatt opened an 11-acre campus in Austin to accelerate deployment of modular solar energy systems and address power constraints for AI infrastructure.

Main announcement: Exowatt has opened an 11-acre campus in Austin containing 48,000 square feet of office, manufacturing, and warehouse space to speed deployment of its modular solar energy systems; the company also launched ExoRise, a business unit to deliver turnkey “powered land” in solar-rich regions (West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada) to compress deployment timelines.
Background and details: The move responds to increasing grid congestion, interconnection delays, and surging AI load requests across US markets (notably Texas and the Southwest); Exowatt previously received a $50 million Series A extension backed by Overmatch Ventures, and company and industry leaders (Hannan Happi, Steven Dickens, Evan Loomis) emphasize modular and behind-the-meter solutions as strategic responses.

Mar 16, 2026

The Frog Is Dead: North America’s Power Grid Faces Its Biggest Reckoning in a Generation

S&P Global Energy warned that North American power demand is accelerating—driven in large part by a surge in data center development—creating a near-term supply crisis that will require rapid investment, permitting, and technology shifts.

Main announcement/action:S&P Global Energy projects much higher near-term electricity demand (now 2.5–3%+ annual growth vs. prior <1%), reports 43 GW of U.S. gas turbine orders in 2025, highlights multi-year turbine backlogs (up to ~5 years), and flags regional investment flows (largest 2025 turbine share to MISO, SPP, and the southeastern U.S.). The firm also called out data center clusters in Columbus, Ohio with new facilities hitting the grid within 3–4 years, and recommends watching natural-gas fuel cells and a wave of IPOs in 2026 for geothermal, SMRs, and distributed generation.
Background and supporting details:Nuclear has bipartisan support but needs project financing and DOE support (DOE pledged a billion-dollar loan commitment for the Crane Energy Center/Three Mile Island restart); S&P identifies >5 GW of potential nuclear uprates with 1–2 GW announced; M&A valuation comparators cited were ~$800/kW (acquired plants 18–24 months ago), $1,500/kW (new-build then), and ~$2,400/kW (current acquisition costs); recent infrastructure transaction cited: $11 billion take-private deal involving GIP, EQT, Qatar Investment Authority, and AES.

Event: Global Power Markets Conference

Date: April 13–15, 2026
Location: Four Seasons Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
Agenda/subject: Global power market trends including grid investment, generation mix, storage, and policy (hosted by S&P Global Energy)

Mar 15, 2026

Total Mess at Elon Musk’s xAI, “Not Built Right” and “Being Rebuilt” — While Polluting Enormously

Elon Musk announced that xAI “was not built right first time around” and that the company is being rebuilt from the foundations up.

Main announcement: Elon Musk posted that xAI is being rebuilt from the foundations up, with Grok (xAI’s chatbot) and the xAI team undergoing a structural reset; Musk and xAI’s head of talent Baris Akis are reviewing past interview records and reaching back out to promising candidates to hire new talent.
Background and details:xAI was merged into SpaceX and regulators in Mississippi authorized xAI to build a power plant with 41 natural gas-burning turbines in Southaven to power nearby data centers; the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center have filed objections saying the MDEQ permit has serious legal and policy flaws. Additional factual items: Tesla added Grok to Tesla infotainment starting July 12, 2025, and xAI has seen roughly half of its founding members leave recently.

Mar 12, 2026

Fossil generation could rise with faster-than-expected growth in data center power demand

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published an analysis showing that faster-than-expected electricity demand growth driven by data centers could increase natural gas and coal generation and raise wholesale electricity prices.

Main analysis and assumptions: The EIA produced a high demand growth scenario in which 2026 and 2027 growth rates are 50% higher than the February STEO in data-center-heavy regions, while other regions are +1 percentage point above STEO; the scenario assumes no additional generating capacity beyond the February STEO and applies an assumed +$0.50/MMBtu increase in natural gas delivered prices across regions.
Key modeled outcomes and metrics: Under the scenario, natural gas generation rises to +7.3% (123 BkWh) between 2025–2027 (vs 1.7% baseline), coal generation declines by 5.0% (37 BkWh) nationwide in the high case, and ERCOT 2027 wholesale prices model +$37/MWh above the February STEO (excluding ERCOT the average 2027 wholesale price is +$2.10/MWh above the STEO forecast of $48/MWh).

Mar 11, 2026

Ajit Pai: The Big Lesson from Barcelona is AI and Wireless Are Converging

Ajit Pai, CTIA President and CEO, called for harmonized spectrum policy and investment-friendly regulatory frameworks to support the convergence of AI and wireless and to secure U.S. leadership in the AI era.

Main announcement/action: Ajit Pai urged rapid allocation of contiguous mid-band spectrum and regulatory reforms, citing specific spectrum opportunities: next year’s upper C-Band auction (>400 megahertz contiguous block), progress on at least 100 megahertz at 2.7 GHz, the 4 GHz band as a major mid-band opportunity, and the 6/7 GHz neighborhood including a Presidential directive to auction 275 megahertz in the lower 7 GHz band. He emphasized urgency for coordinated moves to expand supply and enable AI-driven traffic demand.
Background and implementation details: He called for investment-friendly rules (efficient siting and permitting for towers, fiber, data centers, electricity generation, and advanced manufacturing) and quantified the capital need as “hundreds of billions, and likely trillions, of dollars”; he framed this as a competition with China and argued the United States must align spectrum policy with regulatory certainty to attract that capital.

Mar 11, 2026

Climate Change Solutions - March 10, 2026

EESI will host a briefing on energy efficiency with the Alliance to Save Energy on March 12 to highlight cost-effective measures for households and small businesses.

Main announcement: EESI and the Alliance to Save Energy will hold a briefing Strategies to Lower Utility Bills Now for Households and Small Businesses on Thursday, March 12, 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., in the Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room (Room 2168) and online (RSVP link available). The event focuses on energy efficiency solutions for households and small businesses and invites expert panelists to discuss readily-available measures.
Background and other details: EESI published a Climate Jobs fact sheet citing >4 million climate jobs in 2024 and a 2.8% growth rate in clean energy jobs; it also promoted the 29th annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO on June 24 (Rayburn Foyer and Gold Room, 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., online option). The newsletter summarizes recent congressional activity on bills including S.2245 (Digital Coast Act extension), H.R.755 (Critical Mineral Consistency Act of 2025), H.R.390 (ACERO Act), and H.R.2600 (ASCEND Act), and notes hearings that focused on the electric grid and data centers.

Mar 9, 2026

Switch Integrates NVIDIA Omniverse DSX Blueprint into Switch’s EVO AI Factories

Switch announced integration of the NVIDIA Omniverse DSX Blueprint into its LDC EVO operating system on March 16, 2026.

Main announcement:Switch integrated the NVIDIA Omniverse DSX Blueprint into LDC EVO to provide physics-accurate 3D digital twins and operational intelligence for its EVO AI Factory deployments; the integration supports NVIDIA reference designs (including Rubin DSX), NVIDIA DGX deployments and Dell PowerEdge servers and was announced in a press release dated March 16, 2026.
Background and details:Ecosystem partners include NVIDIA, Dassault Systèmes, Cadence, ETAP, Schneider Electric, SUSE, Dell Technologies, Oxide Computer Company and Procore Technologies; the EVO AI Factory integration will be showcased at NVIDIA GTC 2026 (DSX AI Infrastructure Pavilion, Booth #91).

Mar 9, 2026

Johnson Camp Mine Produces First Copper Using Rio Tinto’s Nuton Technology

Rio Tinto announced that its Nuton venture produced first copper at the Johnson Camp Mine using its proprietary leaching technology.

Main announcement: Nuton “produced its first copper at Johnson Camp using its proprietary leaching technology” (Rio Tinto Dec. 4 release); the Johnson Camp deployment is a commercial-scale, four-year Nuton phase targeting ~30,000 tons of copper cathode over the period and claiming a mine-to-metal carbon footprint of 0.82 kilograms CO2-equivalent per kilogram of copper, with the process said to use up to 80% less water and generate up to 60% lower GHG emissions vs conventional routes.
Background and related details: Johnson Camp is owned by Gunnison Copper in Cochise County (south of Willcox); Rio Tinto announced a two-year agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Jan. 15 to supply low-carbon Nuton copper to AWS component manufacturers and to receive cloud/analytics support; Nuton also made a $30.5 million payment to advance the Yerington Copper Project, and Nuton/Arizona Sonoran terminated their option on the Cactus Project.

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