The Department of Energy let PJM curtail backup-equipped data centres for three days during a mid-May heat event, the second such order in 2026. Virginia's tax fight is killing projects before they file. Meta is buying firmed solar and geothermal, and NVIDIA's networking revenue is now growing 2.6 times faster than its compute.
Grid operators have built a switch for the data centres that spent a year building their way off the grid.
The US Department of Energy gave grid operator PJM authority on 18 May to curtail data centres running their own backup generation, its second such emergency order in 2026, as a heat event with 40 GW of plant offline pushed the 14-state grid toward rolling blackouts.
The US Department of Energy gave PJM emergency authority on 18 May to curtail data centres running their own gas turbines, the second such order in 2026, during a heat event with 40 GW of plant offline.
Operators built private gas generation specifically to escape grid rules; the DOE order reclassified that same fleet as the grid's first curtailment target, inverting a year of industry strategy in a single instrument.
Compass Datacenters walked away from two Greensville County and Emporia sites before filing a single planning application, with Finance Secretary Mark Sickles telling the Senate Finance Committee tax uncertainty alone drove the exit.
Compass Datacenters abandoned two site searches in Greensville County and Emporia before filing any planning application, with Finance Secretary Mark Sickles confirming tax uncertainty was the sole cause.
The withdrawal shows the Virginia fiscal standoff has moved the constraint upstream of permitting entirely: projects are dying before they generate a single planning document, not at zoning hearings.
Danville and Pittsylvania County officials approved an AI data centre at the Berry Hill megasite on 26 May, then attached the consent to Virginia's unresolved tax exemption fight, the first local approval formally conditioned on state fiscal policy.
Danville and Pittsylvania County approved an AI data centre at the Berry Hill megasite on 26 May but made the consent contingent on the Virginia state tax exemption outcome, the first local approval formally conditioned on state fiscal policy.
Local planning consent, previously sufficient to proceed, has been redefined by the standoff: the approval exists on paper but cannot be acted upon until the Richmond budget fight resolves.
Enbridge will invest $1.2 billion in a 365 MW solar and 200 MW battery storage project in Wyoming serving Meta, entering service by end-2027, as operators chase firmed non-gas power away from the BTM fleet now under federal curtailment scrutiny.
Enbridge committed $1.2bn to build 365 MW solar and 200 MW battery storage in Wyoming for Meta, with the project entering service by end-2027, as Meta's largest single renewable energy procurement.
The deal represents a direct procurement shift: six months ago Meta was queuing for BTM gas turbines; now it is contracting firmed solar-plus-storage specifically because gas carries federal curtailment risk .
XGS Energy and Baker Hughes are developing a 150 MW enhanced-geothermal project in New Mexico with Meta as anchor customer, redirecting oilfield drilling expertise into 24/7 carbon-free baseload as operators move off BTM gas.
XGS Energy and Baker Hughes announced a 150 MW enhanced-geothermal project in New Mexico with Meta as anchor customer, redirecting oilfield drilling rigs into 24/7 carbon-free baseload for data centres.
Baker Hughes committing drilling capacity to geothermal signals that firm non-gas baseload for data centres is now a commercial market: oilfield-services companies follow multi-year demand, not pilots.
NVIDIA's 20 May results showed data-centre networking revenue at $14.8 billion, up 199 per cent year-on-year, while compute rose 77 per cent, the gap revealing that hyperscalers have shifted spend from buying GPUs to wiring them together.
Nvidia Q1 FY2027 data-centre networking revenue reached $14.8bn, up 199 per cent year-on-year, while compute rose 77 per cent, putting total data-centre revenue at $75.2bn for the quarter.
The 2.6-times gap between networking and compute growth rates is the financial fingerprint of a cluster-interconnect deployment phase: GPU orders are placed, and hyperscalers are now spending at triple the rate to wire them into usable machines.
FERC logged 75 GW of new US summer generating capacity since 2025, with Texas operator ERCOT alone adding 26 GW, yet PJM still triggered emergency curtailment weeks before summer peak as data-centre load growth outpaced supply.
FERC reported 75 GW of new US summer generating capacity since 2025, with ERCOT accounting for 26 GW, yet PJM triggered emergency curtailment protocols in mid-May, weeks before the summer peak.
The gap between the headline supply addition and the emergency shows data-centre demand growth of roughly 5 per cent annually outpacing even the fastest supply response in US grid history.
Prime Data Centers broke ground on three of five buildings at a 240 MW Phoenix campus on 22 May, with three buildings pre-leased to an undisclosed hyperscaler, showing continued build momentum in Sun Belt markets.
Prime Data Centers broke ground on three of five pre-leased buildings at a 240 MW Phoenix campus on 22 May 2026, with an undisclosed hyperscaler as anchor tenant.
Pre-leased construction starts in Phoenix show that capital continues to commit in Sun Belt markets with cleared planning consent and grid access, even as Virginia and moratorium-threatened markets lose pipeline .
EdgeConneX announced a €3 billion Italian data-centre investment on 22 May, the latest operator to commit large capital to an EU jurisdiction where planning consent and grid access are clearer than in moratorium-threatened US markets.
EdgeConneX announced a €3bn Italian data-centre investment on 22 May 2026, with construction beginning in 2026, extending the pattern of operators committing large capital to EU jurisdictions where planning consent and grid access are clearer.
Italy's combination of cleared zoning, EU sovereignty regulation that mandates local cloud infrastructure, and a national broadband plan targeting data-centre growth makes it a structural destination for redirected US and European capital .
Direction: up, with a named June inflection. FERC's RM26-4-000 ruling, due by end of June, will either confirm that BTM load above 20 MW is a permanent interruptible grid reserve or shield it under a new co-located load standard. If the ruling codifies the 202(c) posture, operators face stranded capital costs on $800m-1.1bn per GW of installed BTM generation. A third 202(c) order during July-August peak before the permanent rule lands would accelerate that outcome without waiting for the regulatory calendar.
