Developers say off-grid data centers won’t be ‘a huge part of the market’ At least one off-grid developer, Fermi, has struggled to find a tenant.

Everyone's talking about off-grid data centers. The people building them are more skeptical.
Joule's CEO says customers still want a grid connection as a "safety net." Fermi just lost its CEO and hasn't found a tenant. @ceboudreau.bsky.social reports 👇
www.latitudemedia.com/news/develop...

How are utilities preparing for a ‘historic’ El Niño? This year's could be the strongest in centuries, disrupting weather patterns and affecting utilities across the country.

NOAA says there's a 1-in-4 chance this year's El Niño is "very strong" — potentially the most powerful in over a century.
@biancagiacobone.bsky.social looked at how utilities from San Diego to Seattle are preparing for the disruptions ahead.
www.latitudemedia.com/news/how-are...

A reckoning for the ‘electro-bros’ Live from Transition-AI in San Francisco, we stress-test Silicon Valley's energy assumptions.

Silicon Valley discovered electricity. Now they think they can fix the grid with jet engines and ship turbines.
New #OpenCircuit, recorded live at Transition-AI 2026 🎙️
www.latitudemedia.com/news/open-ci...

Tapestry is using AI to help PJM clear its interconnection backlog Page Crahan, general manager of Alphabet’s moonshot for the grid, digs into recent advances transforming grids around the world.

Tapestry, an Alphabet “moonshot” project, aims to help countries around the world navigate dramatic load growth.
Its partnership with PJM is helping bring new generation, including renewables, online through tools like HyperQ.
www.latitudemedia.com/news/tapestr...

The call to "return to energy market fundamentals" sounds reassuring. But Elizabeth K. Whitney makes a sharp case that the fundamentals were never quite what we imagine — and a separate data center capacity auction won't fix what's actually broken in PJM.

www.latitudemedia.com/news/the-ill...

The rise of flexible data centers Emerald AI’s Varun Sivaram explains how to enable data centers to operate as grid assets.

Data centers could consume 17% of all US power by 2030. The solution isn't just building more grid — it's making data centers flexible assets that work with it.

New episode of #Catalyst digs into how that actually happens.

www.latitudemedia.com/news/catalys...

How Redwood Energy built a grid storage product The battery recycling company's energy arm is taking a “ruthless simplicity” approach to storage infrastructure for data centers.

Redwood Materials, the battery recycler, is now powering data centers with repurposed EV batteries. Their design mantra: "ruthlessly simplify." @maeveallsup.bsky.social mallsup got inside how they built it.

www.latitudemedia.com/news/how-red...

Frontier Forum: Why clean energy capital boomed in a volatile year Crux unpacks what was happening underneath the surface of the market's complicated 2025.

Clean energy capital hit $120B in 2025 — through tariff shifts, FEOC uncertainty, and tax policy chaos. How?
Crux's Alfred Johnson and Katie Bays unpack with @stephenlacey.bsky.social what was really happening beneath the surface.

www.latitudemedia.com/news/frontie...

Will data centers start investing in your home? There's a nascent but growing push for large loads to help fund DERs and demand-side upgrades.

Data centers need power fast. One emerging idea: instead of just building more generation, they fund heat pumps, rooftop solar, and batteries in your home to free up grid capacity. Is this the future of "bring your own capacity"?

www.latitudemedia.com/news/will-da...

Can the Tesla Semi finally decarbonize trucking? After nearly a decade, Tesla's electric trucks are going into production. But challenges remain, especially for the grid.

The Tesla Semi is finally going into production, nearly a decade late. But with 500-mile range, megawatt charging, and a $290K price tag, is the grid ready for it?

www.latitudemedia.com/news/can-the...

Have we run out of big ideas to fix the grid? The fight over data centers reveals a deeper crisis over our inability to plan and coordinate at scale.

Have we run out of big ideas to fix the grid? @stephenlacey.bsky.social, @jigarshahdc.bsky.social, and Jane Flegal dig into why our biggest constraint isn't equipment or land — it's our inability to plan and build at scale.
New Open Circuit 🎧
www.latitudemedia.com/news/open-ci...

Exclusive: Most of the projects DOE canceled are still in limbo A look at the scale of the Trump administration's impact on canceled, threatened, and stalled projects at the Department of Energy.

What happens when the federal government cancels your grant but won't officially process the cancellation? You're stuck. A new DOE Alumni Network report documents the scale of the freeze — and it's affecting red and blue states alike.

www.latitudemedia.com/news/exclusi...

The efficiency revolution hiding inside Google data centers A technical deep dive with Google VP Partha Ranganathan on the innovations reshaping data center design.

Thursday, April 2: Where the Internet Lives - The efficiency revolution hiding inside Google data centers.
Google's Partha Ranganathan joins @stephenlacey.bsky.social on power spikes, cooling, and grid capacity.

Register here → www.latitudemedia.com/events/the-e...

The demand stack: Turning customers into grid capacity As load growth accelerates, utilities have a chance to make demand-side programs into planning-grade resources.

Utilities can't build infrastructure fast enough to meet demand.

So where's the capacity going to come from? Possibly inside your home or business.

Stephen Lacey sat down with Hannah Bascom at
Uplight to find out.

www.latitudemedia.com/news/the-dem...

Battery booms and the rise of flexibility As storage markets saturate, value is shifting from building batteries to optimizing them — with AI and new flexibility models leading the way.

Battery markets boom, prices collapse, and the cycle repeats.

So when batteries stop being scarce, where does the value go?

@stephenlacey.bsky.social sat down with Sean McEvoy at @gridbeyond.com to find out. 🎙️

www.latitudemedia.com/news/battery...

The multimillion dollar debate over powering data centers in Texas The rulemaking process for SB6, the state’s landmark large load legislation, is highlighting key sticking points.

In Texas, a 500 MW data center must post $25 million just to find out if the grid can support it.
The rulemaking fight over SB6 is revealing how far apart regulators and developers really are — and the rest of the country is watching.
www.latitudemedia.com/news/the-mul...

Grid utilization vs expansion: The 100 GW debate As the race for powered land intensifies, utilities are facing a hard question: build more, or use better?

The grid sits idle half the time — yet new data centers can't get connected for a decade.

Brattle says smarter utilization could unlock 100 GW. Is it enough?
New Open Circuit 🎙️

Listen wherever you get your podcasts → https://bit.ly/48cDgFP

Google and the rise of space-based machine learning Blaise Agüera y Arcas, CTO of Technology and Society, digs into the promise, and the details, of Project Suncatcher.

Google's Project Suncatcher is an early-stage initiative to run machine learning on solar-powered satellites, tapping into the vast solar energy that never reaches Earth.
Engineering challenges remain. But the scale of what's available makes it worth exploring.
www.latitudemedia.com/news/wtil-go...

Risk is reshaping the battery market Battery moratoriums are a sign that the market is calling for a pivot to safer technologies.

The Moss Landing fire evacuated 1,500 residents and was so dangerous firefighters let it burn itself out. It made an impression. Battery moratoriums are accelerating and one op-ed argues that's actually a market signal, not just a PR problem.

https://bit.ly/4v9ZDpB

Startup Arbor to provide 5 GW of baseload power for data centers The carbon removal-turned-AI-infrastructure startup is betting it can outpace traditional gas turbines on speed and reliability.

A carbon removal startup is now selling baseload power to data centers. Arbor just inked a deal to deliver up to 5 GW via 3D-printed, modular turbines — betting it can beat traditional gas on speed and flexibility. First deployments start 2029.
Full article: https://bit.ly/4dKvDKl
#energy

Crusoe embraces storage via deals with Form Energy and Redwood Materials The modular data center developer will buy 12GWh of iron-air batteries in 2027.

Crusoe just announced two major storage deals at CERAWeek: 12 GWh of iron-air batteries from Form Energy, plus an expanded second-life EV battery deployment with Redwood Materials.

When the grid can't keep up, you bring your own power.

https://bit.ly/3NZeVMX

Trump paid $1 billion to kill two wind farms during an 'energy emergency' The administration paid TotalEnergies $928 million to cancel four gigawatts of much-needed generation.

During a declared "energy emergency," the Trump admin paid @TotalEnergies $928M to cancel 4 GW of offshore wind, enough to power 1.3M homes. Meanwhile, U.S. electricity bills rose 6.4% in 2025.

https://bit.ly/3NYDidF

#WindEnergy #CleanEnergy

The hidden bottleneck in clean energy: due diligence How smarter, more transparent, digitally enabled due diligence can speed up clean energy deployment with CEART and Latitude Media.

Clean energy due diligence has a timing problem. The issues that kill deals aren't usually surprises, they're just found too late.

Tomorrow, Tues March 24, 1pm ET: Rich Deming of CEART joins Stephen Lacey to talk about what earlier, smarter diligence changes for dealmakers.

https://bit.ly/4t2rKF0

State of the transition: Oil shocks, power prices, and grid bottlenecks Michael Cembalest on how geopolitics, power markets, and infrastructure constraints are colliding.

Everyone's fighting about energy right now — renewables vs fossil fuels, whether AI is about to break the grid, whether subsidies work.

JP Morgan's Michael Cembalest joins Open Circuit this week to cut through the noise on oil shocks, power prices, and grid bottlenecks.

🎧 https://bit.ly/4bnHi0b

The Terms of Power: Inside the New Utility Rates For Data Centers A first-of-its-kind analysis of data-center-specific utility tariffs across the United States — who has filed them, what they say, and what they mean for the grid.

We analyzed 25 data center utility tariffs across 19 states.

Regulators nailed cost protection. But 40% say nothing on clean energy, none create flexibility mechanisms — and the market is filling that silence with 56 GW of natural gas.

Full report: https://bit.ly/4bRyVdw

Sublime Systems doesn’t have to be the bellwether for canceled DOE grants Two tracks have emerged for the recipients of canceled awards: a lawsuit, or a long wait.

Sublime Systems laid off two-thirds of its staff after DOE's internal appeals process stalled nearly 10 months after its $87M grant was canceled.

But a federal court reinstated 7 other canceled awards in under 90 days.

@maeveallsup.bsky.social on the two paths forward: https://bit.ly/475LCi9

In Michigan, Google is funding 2 GW of clean power — and demand response This is Google’s fourth deal under the clean transition tariff, with demand response included for the first time.

Google is funding 2 GW of clean power for a new Michigan data center and for the first time, it's bundling in demand response.

The 1 GW "Project Cannoli" campus would have 350 MW of flexibility to shift compute when the grid is stressed.

🔗: https://bit.ly/4cSQfjm

Want economic growth? Pass permitting reform The path to building more power infrastructure runs through Congress.

U.S. electricity demand growth over the next five years is more than 6x the projections made in 2022.

CEBA CEO Rich Powell argues only Congress can fix the federal permitting bottleneck standing in the way and that bipartisan negotiations are resuming: https://bit.ly/4uzwMdK

Glasspoint is back, and armed with global expansion plans Despite turbulence in U.S. energy policy, the once-bankrupt solar thermal company is planning for growth.

"AI sucked all of the air out of the room if you were raising money for anything else."

Glasspoint's CEO on why the AI boom made it harder to fund a 2.2-GW solar thermal pipeline and how they found a way through.

https://bit.ly/3P4dmO9

#SolarThermal

Iran, energy shocks, and the case for distributed power Oil and gas shocks are colliding with a trillion-dollar grid buildout — and a new idea for unlocking capacity.

The Iran war shut down the Strait of Hormuz - 20% of the world's oil and gas supply.

Latest Open Circuit looks at the market fallout and a growing idea for the grid: "bring your own distributed capacity."

Full episode here: https://bit.ly/3Ngm6jC