New York Data Center Intel

Recent New York data center news

• Apr 29, 2026

  Student-Led Panel Confronts AI’s Growing Need for Energy

  Students in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University hosted a panel titled “AI and Sustainability: Can AI’s Energy Demands Be Sustained?” on April 27 in the Sidney Gelber Auditorium.

  • Event organization and participants: The event was created and organized by students in SoMAS through the SUS 401 capstone course taught by Senior Lecturer Tara Rider; panelists were Hendrik Hamann (Professor of Atmospheric Sciences; AI chief scientist, Brookhaven National Laboratory), Nina Kshetry (President, Ensaras), and Aaron Miller (Eastern Regional Manager, SHARC Energy).

    • Date: April 27, 2026
    • Location: Sidney Gelber Auditorium, Stony Brook University

  • Content and key facts presented: Panelists discussed the energy, water and infrastructure demands of AI and data centers, including technical and operational responses such as wastewater energy recovery and heat reuse; speakers emphasized that solutions require coordination of technology, policy, economics and community impact and highlighted workforce and domain expertise needs.

• Apr 28, 2026

  California Utilities Have a Solution to Soaring Energy Prices: More Data Centers

  PG&E is advancing a policy and commercial push to attract large data center loads as a means to lower electric rates for California ratepayers.

  • Main announcement/action: PG&E has celebrated the delivery of its first large data-center customer in San Jose and is actively courting hyperscalers; the utility announced a rate decrease in March 2026 and asserts that each 1 GW of data center load could reduce electric rates by 1–2%, while forecasting up to 12.6 GW of potential data-center load from current applications (enough to power 8.4 million homes). CPUC also approved Electric Rule No. 30 (July 2025) requiring applicants to pay transmission upgrade costs upfront to protect ratepayers.
  • Background and other details: Regulatory and research sources (Brattle Group and LBNL) show California’s retail electricity prices rose markedly 2019–2024 (California at 30.29 cents/kWh); Cal Advocates warns transmission upgrades could run in the billions and recommends cost-responsibility rules. State-level bills (Sen. Scott Padilla, March) would streamline environmental review (ELDP incentives) and impose tariffs to ensure data centers offset costs; a March presidential Rate Payer Protection Pledge was signed by major tech firms (Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, xAI).
• Apr 28, 2026

  Abdul Muneeb Earns Best Presentation Award by IEEE

  Abdul Muneeb, a PhD student and graduate research assistant at Stony Brook University, has been recognized with the Best Presentation Award at the 41st IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) held March 22–26, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas.

  • Award details: Muneeb won the Best Presentation Award at the 41st IEEE APEC, presented at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas (March 22–26, 2026). His paper title: “D30.4 – Near-Field Coupling Analysis of Butterfly Layouts in Paralleled GaN Half-Bridges for Aerospace Applications.” The awards are determined by Session Chairs’ scores across presentation criteria.
  • Research and mentorship: Muneeb is a PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Stony Brook University, supervised by Professor Fang Luo, and focuses on GaN and SiC devices, planar transformer design, PCB-integrated magnetics, EMI-aware design, and PDN modeling for high-speed power conversion aimed at aerospace and AI data center infrastructure.
• Apr 28, 2026

  The environmental impact of LLMs vs. SLMs

  Kashyap Kompella of RPA2AI Research argues enterprises should adopt hybrid, tiered AI architectures and rigorous measurement to reduce the environmental impacts of LLMs and SLMs.

  • Main recommendation: Adopt a hybrid-by-default, tiered routing architecture that starts requests on SLMs and escalates to LLMs only when needed, govern routing by success-per-unit-of-energy, and measure operational metrics such as kWh per 1,000 inferences, kg CO2e per 1,000 inferences, GPU utilization, PUE and WUE. The article presents concrete figures including Grok 4 training emissions = 72,816 tons CO2e, GPT-4o annual inference water use ≈ drinking needs of 12 million people, and recommends tracking energy and water KPIs for procurement and reporting.
  • Context and supporting facts: This is an analytical/opinion piece (not a primary new technical release). It cites published sources (Stanford AI Index, Cornell research) and provides cost ranges: SLM fine-tuning: <$1,000 to low hundreds of dollars (typical); SLM fine-tuning general range: $100 to $200,000 depending on approach; frontier LLM pretraining: $50M+ and LLM fine-tuning: millions of dollars. It also notes a policy reference: the White House 2027 budget proposes $202 million toward EPA AI and data center oversight.
• Apr 28, 2026

  Meta Secures 1 GW Space-Based Solar Power Deal for Data Centres

  Meta Platforms has agreed with Overview Energy to secure up to 1 GW of space-based solar capacity for its data centre operations by 2030.

  • Agreement details: Meta will gain early access to up to 1 GW of capacity from Overview Energy’s space-based solar system; an orbital demonstration is expected in 2028 with commercial power delivery in 2030, and financial details were not disclosed.
  • Background and context: The deal responds to rising electricity demand driven by AI and data centre growth; Meta is developing multiple gigawatt-scale data centres in the United States, including a rural Louisiana project estimated at $50 billion, and has existing partnerships with Vistra, Oklo, and TerraPower while committing to net-zero by 2030 and contracting 10.24 GW of clean energy capacity in 2025.
• Apr 27, 2026

  Rethinking Utility Incentives and Business Models in the Age of Distributed Energy

  Deep Patel (founder and CEO of Gigawatt Inc.) argues that utility incentive structures must be realigned to value distributed energy resources (DERs) and to shift utilities from capital builders to orchestrators of a distributed grid.

  • Main announcement/action: The article calls for regulatory and policy changes to treat distributed energy as a core capacity resource, redesign rate structures and compensation mechanisms to reflect DER system value, and shift utility incentives from capital deployment to outcome and performance-based compensation. It cites concrete utility programs: Con Edison’s Brooklyn-Queens Demand Management (used DERs to defer a substation), Hawaiian Electric customer battery programs, and Green Mountain Power customer-sited storage as examples of implementation.
  • Background and details: The commentary highlights accelerating load drivers — electrification, data centers, and AI infrastructure — and recommends operational changes including feeder-level visibility, improved forecasting for net load, and aggregated DER deployment. It stresses expanding access via community solar and shared storage and integrating DERs into utility planning to defer infrastructure upgrades.
• Apr 27, 2026

  Small modular reactors and microreactors under development in the United States

  The U.S. Department of Energy announced renewed support for SMR development, including a $900 million funding tender and selection of vendors for the Energy Reactor Pilot Program.

  • DOE actions: In March 2025 DOE reissued a tender for $900 million to promote SMR development and in June 2025 announced the Energy Reactor Pilot Program, selecting vendors (Aalo Atomics Inc.; Antares Nuclear, Inc.; Deep Fission Inc.; Last Energy Inc.; Oklo Inc.; Natura Resources LLC; Radiant Industries Inc.; Terrestrial Energy Inc.; Valar Atomics Inc.). Applicants are responsible for funding individual pilot reactor designs while the program aims to fast-track licensing and attract private funding.
  • Defense and implementation details: The Defense Innovation Unit and military services are advancing microreactor adoption: the Army launched the Janus Program (sites shortlisted at nine bases) and the Air Force plans a commercial microreactor at Eielson Air Force Base with Oklo, Inc. supplying a sodium-cooled Aurora design targeting 1 MW to 5 MW by 2027; the Department of the Navy is soliciting offers for on-site SMRs and microreactors.
• Apr 27, 2026

  Residents left furious as their picturesque small town surrounded by forests and nature is set to be 'ruined' by sprawling data centers... but they're refusing to back down

  Cornell Realty Management has applied to develop the Wildcat Ridge AI Data Center and multiple developers are preparing to build several large data centres in Archbald, Pennsylvania.

  • Project scope & developer action: Cornell Realty Management applied for the Wildcat Ridge AI Data Center campus (14 centres across 400 acres) and other proposals could see 51 data warehouses built on ~14% of Archbald’s land; developers claim the campus would be at least 1,500 feet from homes, create 1,280 jobs, be as quiet as a ‘normal conversation’, and use about 50,000 gallons of water a day.
  • Permitting, finances & community response: Developers state the project would generate $7 million in annual borough tax revenue and $23 million for the school system; residents and local officials (including Mayor Shirley Barrett) are actively opposing the plans via a Stop Archbald Data Centers Facebook group (~10,000 members) and council meetings. Additional state and local permits are required and construction could still take months to years to begin even if local approvals advance.
• Apr 25, 2026

  High oil prices could boost renewables, says Energy Vault CEO

  Energy Vault CEO Robert Piconi says sustained high oil prices could make renewable energy and storage solutions more attractive, and the company is seeing a sharp increase in inquiries and firm orders.

  • Main announcement/action: Energy Vault reports a sharp increase in inquiries and firm orders for its battery and long-duration storage solutions, driven by sustained high oil prices, electricity price volatility and an exponential surge in demand from AI and data centres; customers are moving from conceptual interest to utility-scale execution for medium- and long-duration storage.
  • Background and concrete details: Energy Vault listed on the NYSE via a SPAC in 2022, raised more than $200 million (CHF156 million) as a startup and ~$236 million through the SPAC transaction; reported $146 million revenue the year it listed and nearly $350 million the following year before revenues later fell to approximately $50 million; the company now owns and operates two plants with two additional plants under construction, and signed a 10.5-year contract with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (2024) to provide up to 48 hours of green-hydrogen backup power.
• Apr 25, 2026

  ‘Sustained high oil prices can make renewable energy and storage solutions more attractive’

  Energy Vault CEO Robert Piconi says sustained high oil prices are increasing commercial demand for renewable energy storage and accelerating sales activity.

  • Main announcement/action: Energy Vault reports a sharp increase in inquiries and firm orders for its Battery Energy Storage System solutions across American and European markets, driven by sustained high oil prices, electricity price volatility, and rising electricity demand from AI and data centres; the company now owns and operates two plants with two additional plants under construction, and employs 24 people in Switzerland.
  • Background/details: Energy Vault listed via a SPAC in 2022, raising approximately $236 million as part of the transaction (building on an earlier startup raise of more than $200 million (CHF156 million)); notable contracts and projects include a 10.5-year contract with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to provide up to 48 hours of green-hydrogen backup power, the Rudong facility opened in 2023 in China, a delivered battery hub for Schindler in Switzerland, and an agreement with Energie Wettingen AG; the company expanded from gravity storage into battery and green hydrogen and moved toward a build-own-operate model after assessing value-chain margins.