Utah Data Center Intel

Recent Utah data center news

• Jul 23, 2026

  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.
• Jul 22, 2026

  AI Is Usually Cast as a Grid Burden. The Genesis Mission Is Betting It’s a Grid Tool.

  The U.S. Department of Energy has announced 278 Genesis Mission projects, including multiple AI and grid-operations awards that aim to speed up grid analysis and support flexible load management.

  • DOE unveiled 278 projects at the Genesis Mission Summit in Washington, D.C. on July 22 as part of a broader initiative the White House says has more than $5 billion in commitments across 15+ agencies.
  • The article highlights projects from Brookhaven National Laboratory, PNNL, University of Utah, EPRI, and others, plus a Siemens Energy-led topology-control project with Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of Virginia, and the Orlando Utilities Commission; these are described as Phase I efforts focused on testing AI for grid planning, interconnection studies, and real-time switching recommendations.
• Jul 17, 2026

  Right-Sizing Data Centers: How to Match Footprint to Real-World Demand

  The article explains a framework for right-sizing data centers and argues that bigger is not always better.

  • It compares the size spectrum from edge and micro data centers to hyperscale campuses, emphasizing that deployments should be sized around actual business needs.
  • It discusses factors for planning footprint, including IT load, server classes, rack density, cooling, materials, and phased expansion; examples cited include AWS’s 1,200-acre Project Rainer in New Carlisle, Indiana, and CoreSite’s LA1 in Los Angeles.
• Jul 17, 2026

  New York State just hit pause on the AI data center boom

  New York State has announced a one-year moratorium on new hyperscale data centers while it develops a regulatory framework for permitting, community impacts, and grid protection.

  • Governor Kathy Hochul signed an Executive Order described as the “nation’s first moratorium” on new hyperscale data centers, with the state halting environmental permits for up to one year.
  • New York will create a Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) and a Community Investment Framework (CIF) within 60 days; the article also says the state is considering a fund tied to aging grid infrastructure and clean energy procurement.
  • The proposed community contribution is $1 million per megawatt (MW) of anticipated utility demand per project, implying $50 million for 50 MW and $400 million for 400 MW.
  • The piece is a news analysis/commentary article about policy and industry impacts, not a first-hand company announcement; it references prior and current policy moves in New York and quotes analysts on likely market effects.
• Jul 13, 2026

  Tract looks to develop 900MW data center park outside Richmond, Virginia

  Tract has announced a pre-application filing to develop the Tuckahoe Technology Park, an 872-acre master-planned data center campus in Goochland County, Virginia.

  • Filed a pre-application for a conditional use permit (CUP) through VALCO Goochland, LLC for land in the county’s technology overlay district (TOD West).
  • The proposed campus would include 12 buildings, reach 900MW at full build-out, and require more than $3 billion in investment; a community meeting is scheduled for July 23.
  • Tract says it aims to make sites zoned, powered, and shovel-ready for other developers, and county officials said negotiations have been ongoing since late 2023.
• Jul 6, 2026

  Aalo Atomics’ Test Reactor Reaches Criticality at INL, Fourth DOE-Authorized Advanced Reactor by July 4

  Aalo Atomics has announced that its Aalo-X Critical Test Reactor (CTR), dubbed Project First Light, reached criticality at Idaho National Laboratory on July 4, making it the fourth DOE-authorized advanced reactor to achieve criticality in the recent federal reactor testing push.

  • DOE said Aalo’s test reactor successfully completed a zero-power fueled criticality demonstration at INL under the Reactor Pilot Program; Aalo told POWER the CTR reached criticality at 12:20 a.m. MT on July 4.
  • Aalo CEO Matt Loszak said criticality paves the way for the Aalo Pod to power commercial data centers after NRC authorization; Aalo said the 10 MWe Aalo-X design supports construction and licensing in 2027 and operations/safety demonstrations in 2028.
  • The article also says Aalo has begun work on Project Ascension, a second reactor on the INL campus, with excavation and earthwork completed and first concrete being prepared; Aalo expects to finish it by end-2026 and make commercial-scale electricity in 2027.
• Jul 1, 2026

  Deployable Energy’s Unity Nuclear Reactor Achieves Criticality at INL, Third Under DOE Nuclear Push

  Deployable Energy has announced that its Unity demonstration reactor achieved criticality at Idaho National Laboratory, marking the third DOE-authorized advanced reactor to reach the milestone under the agency’s nuclear push.

  • Unity completed a zero-power fueled criticality demonstration at INL on June 30; Deployable said it was done safely and as planned under applicable regulatory requirements.
  • The DOE said the milestone fulfills Executive Order 14301 goals tied to the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad; Deployable said the campaign involved a roughly 150-day schedule and a single-digit million dollar investment.
• Jun 16, 2026

  Climate Change Solutions - June 16, 2026

  The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) released new fact sheets on lithium and cobalt and announced its 29th annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO (EXPO 2026).

  • New EESI publications: EESI published fact sheets on Lithium and Cobalt, noting the U.S. relies on imports for >50% of lithium consumed and 76% of cobalt consumed; the newsletter links to a 2025 Critical Minerals Issue Brief for deeper analysis.
  • Event and policy updates: EXPO 2026 is scheduled for Wednesday, June 24, 2026, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (reception 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.) at the Rayburn House Office Building Gold Room (Room 2168) and online; the newsletter also reports House action on the Agriculture Appropriations Act (H.R.8646) providing $22.5 billion to USDA through September 2027, and updates on geothermal permitting bills and the DOMINANCE Act to secure critical mineral supply chains.
• Jun 15, 2026

  Data Centers’ Next Hurdle: Winning Public Trust and Social License

  The article reports that community opposition is emerging as a decisive constraint on U.S. data center development.

  • Main action: Local communities and voters have begun to block or reshape large data center projects: Monterey Park approved a citywide ban on new data centers; opposition in Festus, Missouri helped thwart a proposed $6 billion campus and unseat incumbent council members; the proposed Stratos project in Utah was reduced from 40,000 acres to about 20,000 acres. The piece also cites a seasonally adjusted annual construction rate of $50.7 billion (April 2026, US Census Bureau) as context for the scale of recent growth.
  • Background & policy details: State-level responses include North Carolina lawmakers considering utility cost-recovery changes for major customers and New York’s proposed Responsible Data Center Development Act, which would pause new large data center permits for one year and require public hearings, host-community benefit programs, and separate utility rate classifications. The article is an analytical report summarizing local disputes, polling (Pew, Gallup), expert comments, and cited regulatory proposals.
• Jun 9, 2026

  Hydrogen’s Hurdles, Fuel Cells’ Rise in Data Center Power

  DataCenterKnowledge publishes a final installment reviewing less-mature or emerging alternatives to diesel generators for data center backup power, focusing on hydrogen backup, fuel cells, and renewable fuels.

  • Main coverage: The article assesses hydrogen engines and fuel cells and renewable diesel as diesel alternatives, noting concrete deployments and pilots: NorthC Datacenters ordered six Jenbacher hydrogen engines in the Netherlands (dual-gas for short hydrogen outages), Microsoft piloted a 3 MW hydrogen fuel cell in Latham, NY, and Bloom Energy signed a $5 billion strategic partnership with Brookfield to accelerate fuel cell capacity. It highlights the Dutch ~300 km national hydrogen network repurposed from natural gas pipelines and Microsoft’s prior 2030 diesel elimination pledge as context.
  • Background & policy details: The piece notes regulatory movement with the US EPA removing proposed hydrogen co-firing mandates from its NSPS (earlier draft had ramped to 96% by 2038), cites cost and infrastructure constraints for hydrogen (production, transport, storage, permitting), and points out that fuel cells running on natural gas/biogas are identified as the most likely near-term scalable solution for behind-the-meter AI power needs.