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South Carolina Data Center Intel
Latest data center news, projects, power and policy across South Carolina — updated daily.
Recent South Carolina data center news
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Virginia Study on Groundwater and Data Centers Calls for Tighter Water Regulations
Virginia has released a long-delayed groundwater study examining eastern-region aquifer supply and the possible impact of data centers, and the report urges stricter groundwater regulations.
- The report says regulators should have more authority to reject industrial water withdrawal permits, require applicants to examine surface water or water reuse, and strengthen planning and staffing/equipment funding for water management.
- It finds groundwater in Virginia’s eastern coastal plain is constrained, with declining availability likely, and says a data center using evaporative cooling would probably not find a reliable groundwater supply anywhere in the region.
- The report was provided to AP by Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s office after more than six months of withholding; AP says the report had been due in January and was released in July 2026.
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White House Expands Data Center Ratepayer Pledge as Congress Moves to Codify Protections
The White House expanded its voluntary Ratepayer Protection Pledge to 187 utilities, electric cooperatives, and data-center developers, while Congress advanced the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act from committee 52-0.
- The White House said the pledge now covers 187 organizations plus 23 governors, and the coalition “protects” 263 million Americans; signatories commit to fund generation and grid upgrades for their data-center loads without shifting costs to other ratepayers.
- The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced H.R. 9340 on July 21; the bill would require state regulators and nonregulated utilities to consider a large-load standard for sites with at least 100 MW peak demand and recover the full incremental cost of grid upgrades. New York’s Executive Order 62 separately put permits for 50 MW+ data centers on hold pending an environmental review.
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Brookfield buys BESS developer Aypa Power from Blackstone
Brookfield Asset Management has announced an agreement to acquire battery storage developer-operator Aypa Power at an enterprise value of about US$7 billion. - The deal was agreed with funds managed by Blackstone Energy Transition Partners and is subject to regulatory approvals; Brookfield said it will acquire Aypa’s operational, under-construction and contracted BESS projects plus its development pipeline.
- Brookfield said Aypa has a 6.5GW portfolio and a pipeline of more than 20GW; its operating and under-construction assets are 95% contracted under long-term agreements with an average remaining contract term of 17 years.
- The article also notes prior financing and project activity at Aypa, including a US$320 million credit line in 2023, US$550 million in debt and tax equity financing, a US$1.5 billion credit facility in 2026, US$512 million financing for two Ontario projects, and a 1GWh Arizona project entering commercial operation.
- In a separate M&A update, Nextpower completed its acquisition of Prevalon; Nextpower said the deal expands its platform into BESS, energy management software, power control technologies, and services supporting AI data centre infrastructure and other critical power applications.
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A Year Later, Trumps OBB Act Caused 468,000 Mostly Green Job Losses, Claims E2 BW Research
E2 and BW Research have released an analysis claiming that Trump-era clean energy policy reversals and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act caused major project cancellations and job losses in the United States.
- The report says 216 abandoned projects led to $68.2 billion in foregone capital investment, $48.4 billion in annual operational spending, and 468,000 lost jobs across construction, manufacturing, supply chain, and induced effects.
- It attributes the fallout to the January 20, 2025 executive order freezing IRA and IIJA disbursements and the OBBA signed on July 4, 2025, and says the lost energy buildout includes about 10 GW solar, 3.75 GW wind, and 9.08 GW battery storage.
- The article is a commentary-style report summary based on E2/BW Research modeling using IMPLAN and NREL JEDI frameworks, and it references project cancellations involving companies such as GM, Ford-CATL, Toyota, VinFast, Honda, Freyr, Kore Power, Natron, Li-Cycle, NorSun, and Ebon Solar.
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New York becomes first US state to impose data center moratorium
New York has announced a one-year moratorium on new large-scale data centers.
- Governor Kathy Hochul signed the order into law, immediately pausing environmental permits for projects of 50MW or more while a regulatory framework is developed.
- The framework will include a Generic Environmental Impact Statement on energy demand, water use and quality, and air quality, and local entities will receive guidance within 60 days on community benefits negotiations; the order also directs consideration of a New York Grid Acceleration Fund.
- The article also references earlier and proposed legislation, including S.9144 introduced by Elizabeth Krueger and a proposed national moratorium, the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act, introduced by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in March 2026.
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Karis named as firm behind proposed data center project in Dubuque County, Iowa
Real estate firm Karis is reportedly behind a proposed data center project in Dubuque County, Iowa.
- Project disclosure and status: Karis was identified via public records obtained by local news as the interested buyer seeking to purchase hundreds of acres near Dubuque Regional Airport for a proposed data center; the proposal appears to be in early stages and is subject to a 12-month Dubuque County moratorium on data centers.
- Background and related details: Karis operates a data center platform, Karis Critical, which it says has assembled more than 1,500 acres and 3GW of potential capacity; the company recently had a Naperville, Illinois proposal denied by the Naperville City Council and is targeting additional sites in DeKalb, IL; New Albany, OH; Aiken, SC; and Birmingham, AL.
- Town hall: nearly 300 people attended a local town hall on June 24, 2026, raising concerns on water quality, property value, utility infrastructure, and future economic development (source: KCRG).
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The Carolinas May Hold a Critical Resource for AI Data Centers
The US Geological Survey has published an assessment estimating substantial undiscovered lithium resources in the southern Appalachian region, concentrated in North and South Carolina.
- Key announcement: The USGS study estimates a median recoverable undiscovered resource of 1.43 million metric tons of lithium oxide in the southern Appalachian region, with North and South Carolina likely hosting most deposits; the report complements known resources (the identified Carolina Lithium and Kings Mountain deposits are estimated at 1.6 million metric tons of lithium oxide).
- Background and implementation details: The assessment used geological mapping, geochemistry, geophysics, and probabilistic modeling; Albemarle Corporation is seeking permits to restart and expand the Kings Mountain hard-rock lithium site (previously idled in the early 1990s). Utilities and stakeholders note the resource could support battery energy storage systems (BESS) to meet rising electricity demand from data centers, but near-term constraints include manufacturing capacity, refining, economics, skilled labor, and grid interconnection processes.
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Budget Decisions Don’t Address Core Data Center Issues
The Piedmont Environmental Council announced that Virginia’s General Assembly and the governor are continuing a $2-billion-per-year tax exemption for data centers while proposing an “electricity use tax” equal to one-third of that exemption.
- Main announcement/action: The PEC criticizes the continuation of a $2-billion-per-year tax exemption for data centers and highlights a proposed “electricity use tax” that is one-third of that exemption; the PEC calls for the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) to assign data center infrastructure costs to data centers rather than ratepayers.
- Background and other details: The statement notes the budget compromise does not direct allocation of costs for more than 200 substations and thousands of miles of transmission lines tied to data center demand; PEC President Chris Miller urges SCC action and references other states (Michigan, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont) that have proposed moratorium legislation on data center growth.
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Enphase co-founder says solid-state transformer can ease data centre ‘power problems’
Enphase Energy has announced it has been developing solid-state transformer (SST) technology aimed at AI data centres and is positioning its IQ9 microinverter platform as the basis for 1.25MW “super cluster” SST units.
- Main announcement: Enphase says it has quietly developed SST technology for AI data centres over the past nine months, designing a 1.25MW SST unit composed of 342 microinverters that converts medium voltage to 800 volts DC in a single stage; the design is over-provisioned by 10% and Enphase estimates only two of 342 modules will fail over 10 years, with failed modules removable robotically.
- Background and details: Enphase will leverage existing manufacturing capacity in Texas and South Carolina and GaN semiconductor technology (targeting 4kW modules versus competitors’ 140kW silicon carbide modules); the company sold more than 50 patents to PowerBridge Networks in May (a small portion of its portfolio) and has not disclosed commercial SST deployment timelines or customer commitments.
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The AI Demand Dilemma: Utilities Confront Speculative Growth
Utilities across the US are rewriting tariffs, demanding financial guarantees, and altering transmission and procurement plans to avoid building infrastructure for speculative AI-related data center load requests.
- Main action: Utilities (notably AEP and Duke Energy) are tightening large-load rules and requiring financial commitments to move projects forward: AEP winnowed more than 30 GW of preliminary requests to ~13 GW for formal studies and 5.6 GW with signed Electric Service Agreements; AEP proposed requiring customers to commit to paying for 90% of requested capacity for a decade before the utility builds supporting infrastructure. These measures include specialized large-load tariffs, collateral/minimum-usage guarantees, and phased energization schedules to limit ratepayer exposure.
- Background and implementation details: Regulators and reliability bodies (NERC, ERCOT, FERC) are developing new categories and study frameworks (e.g., Computational Load Entity, batch study processes) and reliability guidance. Utilities are expanding financing and procurement: Duke extended a $10 billion master credit facility through 2031 and raised its five-year capital plan to $103 billion; AEP raised its five-year capital plan to $78 billion. Industry forecasts and planning estimates include Wood Mackenzie projecting the US data center electrical equipment market could grow to $65 billion by 2030, and Grid Strategies/ACEG estimating roughly 5,000 miles of new high-capacity transmission annually through 2035 (fewer than 1,000 miles built in 2024).