Texas Data Center Intel

Recent Texas data center news

• Jan 16, 2026

  How Trump’s anti-renewables policies collide with growth of AI

  The Trump administration has paused federal offshore wind permits and curtailed renewable energy incentives, while rising electricity demand from AI data centers is increasing strain on the grid.

  • Federal actions halting renewables: The Department of the Interior paused several fully-permitted offshore wind projects mid-construction (five projects off the Atlantic coast were cited); the administration has required personal sign-off from Secretary Doug Burgum for new solar and wind on federal lands (only one new permission granted in the past year); the Republican-led budget bill shortened renewable tax credits originally established under the Inflation Reduction Act.
  • Demand-side and mitigation details:Hundreds of billions of dollars (USD) are being invested into AI data centers nationwide, driving sharp electricity demand increases; an example project in the Pacific Northwest involved a data center company paying for a new grid battery that the utility will build and own, allowing the data center to come online earlier while the utility retains ownership of the battery.
• Jan 16, 2026

  Solar power generation drives electricity generation growth over the next two years

  The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released its Short-Term Energy Outlook projecting U.S. electricity generation growth driven by utility-scale solar through 2027.

  • Main announcement: The EIA forecasts U.S. electricity generation to grow 1.1% in 2026 and 2.6% in 2027 to 4,423 BkWh in 2027, with utility-scale solar rising from 290 BkWh in 2025 to 424 BkWh by 2027 and almost 70 GW of new solar capacity scheduled to come online in 2026–2027.
  • Additional details and context: The EIA expects the share of dispatchable sources (natural gas, coal, nuclear) to fall from 75% in 2025 to about 72% in 2027; battery capacity in ERCOT is planned to expand from about 15 GW in 2025 to 37 GW by end-2027; coal-fired generation is forecast to decline to 661 BkWh in 2027 due to planned retirements. For regional notes, the report highlights growth patterns in ERCOT, MISO, and PJM, and states regional natural gas generation increases partly respond to growing data center electricity demand.
• Jan 16, 2026

  US ROUNDUP: Duke Energy, Elevate, Fluence with BrightNight and Cordelio progress BESS projects

  Duke Energy has brought online a 50MW/200MWh BESS at the former Allen coal plant in North Carolina.

  • Main announcement: Duke Energy commissioned a 50MW/200MWh battery energy storage system at the former Allen coal plant on Lake Wylie, North Carolina, costing around US$100 million, finished under budget and ahead of schedule, began serving customers in November with final testing ongoing; construction of a second 167MW/668MWh BESS will start in May on a 10-acre site, and both systems are eligible for federal ITCs covering 40% (including an additional 10% for reinvestment into an energy community).
  • Additional project actions and timelines: Fluence Energy will supply its Gridstack Pro BESS (US-made cells/modules/enclosures/thermal systems) for BrightNight and Cordelio Power’s 300MW/1,200MWh Pioneer Clean Energy Centre in Yuma County, Arizona (PPA with APS; commercial operations expected April 2027); Elevate Renewables has acquired the 150MW/600MWh Prospect Power BESS in Virginia (scheduled operations mid-2026).
    • Energy Storage Summit USA: 24-25 March 2026, Dallas, TX; agenda includes FEOC challenges, power demand forecasting, and BESS supply chain management.
• Jan 16, 2026

  Google Buys 1.2 GW of Carbon-free Energy to Power Data Centers Across U.S.

  Clearway announced a series of long-term PPAs with Google to deliver nearly 1.2 GW of carbon-free energy to power Google data centers.

  • Main announcement: Clearway announced long-term PPAs with Google for nearly 1.2 GW of carbon-free energy from new projects located in Missouri, Texas, and West Virginia, supplying grids serving Google data centers in SPP, ERCOT, and PJM for up to 20 years.
  • Project details & timeline: Construction is expected to begin this year, with first sites coming online in 2027 and 2028, and the portfolio represents more than $2.4 billion in investment in infrastructure. Additional context: Google has signed 170+ agreements for over 22 GW of clean energy since 2010 and reported a 12% reduction in data center emissions in 2024.
• Jan 16, 2026

  Soluna Expands Texas Campus With 100 MW AI-Ready Data Center

  Soluna Holdings has signed a co-development partnership with Metrobloks to build Project Kati 2 in Willacy County, Texas.

  • Partnership structure & project specifics: Soluna and Metrobloks intend to form a project company to own and operate Project Kati 2. Metrobloks will lead design, development, leasing, and day-to-day operations, while Soluna will provide site control, power entitlements, electrical equipment, and development expertise. The initial development for Kati 2 is a 100+ MW AI and HPC data center, as the first phase of a roadmap supporting more than 300 MW of total capacity. A target completion date has not been confirmed.

  • Background & related assets: Project Kati is a 166 MW wind-powered campus in Willacy County that broke ground in September 2025 and is being developed in two phases (Kati 1 expected to open later this year supporting Bitcoin hosting alongside AI/HPC; Kati 2 planned as dual-purpose for cryptomining and AI/HPC). The site has a non-binding letter of intent from a potential Neocloud tenant. Soluna’s broader portfolio includes the 25 MW Sophie data center, Project Dorothy 1A/1B (50 MW), Project Herdy (120 MW collocated with a 200 MW wind farm), and Project Annie (75 MW colocated with a 114 MW solar farm).

• Jan 16, 2026

  Data Center Builder/Operator Applied Digital Names Co‑Founder as President

  Applied Digital has named co-founder and chief strategy officer Jason Zhang as president.

  • Appointment details:Jason Zhang appointed President of Applied Digital, will continue to partner with co-founder Wes Cummins (who remains chairman and CEO); Zhang served as Chief Strategy Officer since August 2025 and will help lead the company through the next phase of AI infrastructure growth.
  • Background and related actions: Last month Applied Digital was the lead investor in a $25 million funding round for Switzerland-based Corintis (which plans to open an office in Bellevue, Washington) to develop advanced chip-cooling solutions for data centers; Zhang previously founded Valuefinder in 2019 and worked on investment teams at Sequoia Capital and MSD Capital.
• Jan 15, 2026

  The State of the Science 1 Year On: Environment

  The Trump administration has announced multiple rollbacks of U.S. environmental protections and actions to fast-track permits for mining, AI infrastructure, and data centers.

  • Major policy actions: Executive orders and budget proposals from the Trump administration include fast-tracking federal permitting for data-center infrastructure (July executive order), expediting mining permitting (goal: as little as 28 days), and an April executive order to revive coal and designate coal as a critical mineral; the administration also ordered closure of 25 USGS Water Science Centers and proposed cuts to NOAA labs and programs.
  • Concrete budget and project details: The FY2026 Omnibus proposal (OBBB / OMB materials) includes $2.46 billion cut to EPA Clean and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, $1.01 billion cut to categorical grants for air and water quality, and $721 million cut to USDA Rural Development programs; the Interior announced plans to complete the Velvet-Wood mine environmental assessment in 2 weeks and construction of that uranium/vanadium mine began in November 2025.
• 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 14, 2026

  CyrusOne Names Former Ericsson Exec as Its New Chief Business Officer

  Dallas-based CyrusOne announced that Robert Johnson has joined the company as chief business officer on Jan 14, 2026.

  • Main announcement: CyrusOne appointed Robert Johnson as chief business officer to manage the performance and operations of CyrusOne’s U.S. data centers, leading U.S. Operations, Security, Service Delivery, Account Management, and Asset Management to drive operational and financial performance.
  • Background and details: Johnson joins from Ericsson, brings more than two decades of experience with prior senior roles at Siemens IT Solutions & Services, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services, and Computer Sciences Corporation; the article is an announcement of his hiring and role focus, not a deal or transaction update.
• Jan 14, 2026

  Patented: Machine Learning Treatment for Depression and More North Texas Inventive Activity

  The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System, Stanford University, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have been granted a patent for a machine-learning method to identify depression patients likely to respond to antidepressant treatment.

  • Main announcement: The three institutions received USPTO Patent No. 12490933 for a method that uses machine learning to identify subjects with depression who will respond to antidepressant treatment, listing Madhukar Trivedi among the inventors; the patent application listed is 19072469 on 03/06/2025 (278 days app to issue).
  • Background and context: The article is a Dallas Innovates weekly patents roundup reporting 100 patents granted in the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metro for the week of 12/9/25 (ranked No. 11 of 250 metros); it catalogs numerous other patents and top assignees (e.g., Texas Instruments Inc. (10 patents), Toyota (9), Samsung (7)) and provides USPTO links for individual patents.