New York Data Center Intel

Recent New York data center news

• Jan 15, 2026

  What do we lose when we use AI? | Environmental Business

  Abigail McHugh-Grifa (Executive Director, Climate Solutions Accelerator) published an opinion column urging resistance to unchecked AI development and offering concrete strategies to limit harms.

  • Main announcement/action: Abigail urges readers to abstain or limit AI use, oppose data center build-out, and advocate for regulation; she cites Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory energy projections (data centers used 4.4% of U.S. energy in 2023, projected to 6.7%–12% by 2028) and Bloomberg’s water estimate (an average 100-megawatt data center consumes ~2 million liters/day, “equivalent to the water consumption of about 6,500 households”).
  • Background and details: The piece is an opinion column dated January 15, 2026, referencing sources including MIT Technology Review, Bloomberg, and interviews/books (Nate Soares; Sarah Wynn-Williams); it recommends actions (develop acceptable use policies, state-level advocacy, oppose local data-center projects) and provides the author’s contact abby@climategfl.org.
• Jan 15, 2026

  Idled California Biomass Power Plant to Be Rebuilt as Carbon-Negative AI Factory

  NewYork GreenCloud has acquired the idled Buena Vista Biomass Power facility and announced plans to convert it into a 41-MW carbon-negative AI factory.

  • Main announcement: NYGC (NewYork GreenCloud) acquired the Buena Vista facility in Ione, CA and plans to repower the legacy 18-MW biomass plant into a 41-MW carbon-negative AI factory, replacing combustion with pyrolysis, integrating on-site immersion-cooled GPU compute, and pairing generation with Tesla Megapack battery storage; the announcement was made on Jan. 14.
  • Project structure & details: Impact Capital Partners advised on capital strategy; project materials estimate total capital expenditures of $156 million, note the site is interconnected to CAISO, currently permitted and located on fiber routes, describe a two-phase delivery (refurbishment/repowering then conversion to carbon-negative pyrolysis), and cite a 2026–2028 rollout evaluation window and specific agreements (e.g., a $6 billion Atlas Cloud AI / NYGC partnership with an initial $250 million deployment to host 288 HGX B300 systems with full deployment by February 2026).
• Jan 15, 2026

  Powering Progress: How Leaders Build on Dell Storage

  Dell promotes its industry-leading storage platforms and showcases customer deployments across sectors.

  • Main announcement/action: Dell highlights its industry-leading storage portfolio—PowerStore, PowerFlex, PowerMax, PowerScale, and PowerEdge—as the foundation for scalable, reliable data infrastructure used by customers such as The Bank of New York Mellon (using PowerMax and PowerEdge) and Drogaria Araujo; the article cites PowerStore’s 5:1 data reduction guarantee and PowerMax’s multi-site replication as key product capabilities.
  • Background and details: The post provides customer examples and use cases: KiTZ (Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg) using PowerScale for genomic research in Germany, Lightstorm Entertainment and Cosm for media/entertainment workloads, Fulgent Genetics combining PowerStore and PowerEdge for AI-enabled genetic data processing, University of Missouri modernizing with PowerStore/PowerMax/PowerFlex and PowerEdge, and Texas Christian University adopting PowerScale with PowerEdge for its AI² initiative; links to product pages, case studies, and customer stories are provided.
• Jan 15, 2026

  Elevate Renewables Acquires Major Battery Storage Project in PJM

  Elevate Renewables has announced the acquisition of the Prospect Power battery storage project.

  • Acquisition details: Elevate Renewables (an Arclight portfolio company) has acquired the Prospect Power project: a 150-MW / 600-MWh standalone battery storage installation in Rockingham County, northern Virginia; the project is under construction and is expected to enter commercial operation mid-2026 (this summer). It is fully contracted under a 15-year PPA with Dominion Energy Virginia.
  • Background and strategy: The project sits within PJM Interconnection’s Data Center Alley and is positioned to support grid reliability amid rising load from data centers, AI, and electrification; Elevate says it will continue to scale battery storage across PJM and uses a co-location strategy with thermal generation to accelerate deployment and lower costs.
• Jan 15, 2026

  IBM Introduces New Software to Address Growing Digital Sovereignty Imperative

  IBM announced IBM Sovereign Core, a purpose-built, AI-ready sovereign-enabled software foundation to let enterprises, governments and service providers build, deploy and manage sovereign AI environments under customer control.

  • Main announcement: IBM introduced IBM Sovereign Core as the industry’s first AI-ready sovereign-enabled software; it is built on Red Hat open source foundations, provides customer-operated control plane, in-boundary identity and keys, ongoing compliance enablement with generated audit evidence, and supports governed AI inference including local GPU clusters and local inference execution. Tech preview starts in February 2026, with general availability (GA) planned for mid-year 2026.
  • Background and rollout details: IBM will support deployment in on‑premises data centers, in-region cloud, or via IT Service Providers; initial European rollout partners are Cegeka (Belgium, Netherlands) and Computacenter (Germany), enabling local operational independence and compliance management.
    • Event: IBM Tech Summit (virtual) — January 27, 2026; agenda includes product announcements and technical sessions about IBM Sovereign Core.
• Jan 14, 2026

  New York Opens $36 Million for Open Access, Municipal Broadband

  New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a new $36 million funding round under the state’s Municipal Infrastructure Program, administered by the state’s broadband office, ConnectALL.

  • Main announcement: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced $36 million available through the Municipal Infrastructure Program (ConnectALL) to support locally driven, open-access, publicly controlled broadband projects; applications accepted through April 30 and ConnectALL will begin reviewing applications on Feb. 2.
  • Background and details: The program has previously committed $268 million to active projects across 24 counties (funding more than 2,300 miles of fiber, 68 wireless hubs, and serving more than 96,000 homes and businesses); individual grant awards are expected to be under $10 million and projects must be substantially complete by Dec. 31, 2026 to meet federal funding requirements.
• Jan 14, 2026

  Emerging Data Center Markets: Key Locations to Watch in 2026

  Cushman & Wakefield reports that power and land constraints in major U.S. data center hubs are driving operators to consider secondary and tertiary markets.

  • Main announcement: Cushman & Wakefield finds power and land constraints in primary hubs (Northern Virginia, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Atlanta, Portland/Eastern Oregon) are shifting site selection toward secondary/tertiary markets; highlights include OpenAI’s Stargate (~$100 billion) and Vantage Frontier (~$25+ billion) as large upcoming projects.
  • Details/background: Regions such as Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, Central Washington, New Jersey, and Massachusetts are offering economic incentives, faster approvals, and flexible regulatory frameworks; Central Washington offers low-cost hydro power enabling 100% renewable operation but is also facing power constraints.
• Jan 14, 2026

  Vistra to Bolster Gas-Fired Fleet by 5.5 GW With $4B Cogentrix Acquisition

  Vistra Corp. has executed definitive agreements to acquire Cogentrix Energy from funds managed by Quantum Capital Group in a $4 billion transaction announced Jan. 5, 2026, adding 10 natural gas plants (5,496 MW) across PJM, ISO New England, and ERCOT.

  • Main announcement & deal specifics: Vistra will acquire 100% ownership of the Cogentrix portfolio for $4 billion, adding 5,496 MW of modern natural gas capacity (10 plants) and increasing Vistra’s total generation footprint toward ~50 GW; the transaction is subject to FERC, DOJ (HSR), and state regulatory approvals and is expected to close mid-to-late 2026. The deal includes acquiring the remaining 25% interest in the Patriot and Hamilton-Liberty plants and excludes Cogentrix’s Cedar Bayou 4 (550 MW), which Cogentrix will retain.
  • Background, financing, and timing context: The acquisition follows Vistra’s October 2025 purchase of Lotus Infrastructure gas assets for $1.9 billion (2,600 MW) and is supported by capital markets actions including $2.25 billion in senior secured notes (Jan 2026) and a prior $2 billion secured notes issuance (Oct 2025); Vistra expects mid-single-digit accretion in 2027 and high-single-digit average accretion (2027–2029) to Ongoing Operations Adjusted Free Cash Flow before Growth per share. Regulatory reviews (notably FERC Section 203) will examine competitive impacts in PJM and ISO-NE.
• Jan 14, 2026

  Comcast to Sen. Warren – White House Ballroom Donation On the Level

  Comcast rejected suggestions it engaged in misconduct over a donation tied to a new $400 million ballroom at the Trump White House.

  • Main announcement: Comcast, via outside counsel Michael Bopp (Gibson Dunn) in a Dec. 15, 2025 letter, stated the company’s donation to the $400 million ballroom included no specific limitations or conditions and that the company had no expectations of anything in return; the letter did not disclose the dollar amount Comcast gave.
  • Additional details: The article also reports Gov. Hochul saying New York has $36 million for municipal broadband; Shentel’s Glo Fiber is offering 8 Gbps symmetrical service for 400,000 locations; Wells Fargo downgraded key cable stocks citing fiber and FWA threats; Array Digital declared a dividend after closing an AT&T deal; Lufthansa signed a deal with Starlink; and there are items on Iran limiting Starlink, state prison officials backing Carr on jamming cell phones, and Ruddy urging Newsmax fans to fight a 39% cap repeal.
• Jan 14, 2026

  Power, Not Space: The Colocation Battleground in 2026

  GridFree AI launched its South Dallas One site in December 2025, targeting to deliver more than 1.5 GW within 24 months from lease signing by operating off-grid.

  • Main announcement/action: GridFree AI’s South Dallas One will operate off-grid and aims to deliver >1.5 GW within 24 months from lease signing, outpacing the typical four-year timeline for traditional developments; this demonstrates a push toward power-advantaged site selection and accelerated delivery timelines.
  • Context and additional details: The article frames this within a broader industry shift: global colocation market forecast from $104.2 billion (2025) to $204.4 billion (2030); primary market vacancy fell to 1.6% H1 2025; ~3/4 of 5,242 MW under development in North America are pre-leased; pricing reached $184 per kW per month for 250–500 kW deployments; notable capital commitments include Anthropic’s $50 billion buildout (including a $7 billion, 15-year lease for 245 MW) and Nscale’s $865 million agreement for 40 MW. Supply-chain and memory/storage shortages are expected to persist into Q3 2026.