Data Centre Watch

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147 entries · showing 61–75

1. 7 Oct 2026 Updated 15 Oct UK Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland 1000 MW Consultation open

   Chapelcross objections near 5,000 — and the council stops publishing them

   Objections to the £16.5bn Chapelcross campus climbed towards 5,000 (about 1,000 in the first 48 hours), and Dumfries and Galloway Council changed its usual process — no longer publishing individual representations online, only a count and a summary at the end. The eight buildings are assessed at up to 40m high, and the developer targets a permission-in-principle decision in December 2026; consultation runs to 29 October. The Scottish Greens say 2,000+ objections were lodged through their portal in four days, and MSP Laura Moodie claims the site's greenhouse-gas emissions would be nearly double the limit for the whole of Dumfries and Galloway. On 15 October, Outlander star and Galloway native Sam Heughan added his voice, calling for a pause or moratorium, as the developer put the investment at £15.6bn; the Scottish Government declined the Greens' call for a pause but said it will publish planning guidance by Christmas and does not expect decisions before then.

   Why it matters: A 1GW scheme on a 'brownfield' pitch — with locals disputing how much of it is actually farmland.

   Source: Planning Geek [C]

   Changes (4)

   1. 15 Oct 2026 — Added Sam Heughan's opposition, the £15.6bn investment framing, and the Scottish Government declining a pause while promising guidance by Christmas.
   2. 13 Oct 2026 — Added the Scottish Greens' portal figure (2,000+ objections in four days) and Moodie's greenhouse-gas claim.
   3. 12 Oct 2026 — Added the 40m assessed building height and the developer's December 2026 permission-in-principle target.
   4. 7 Oct 2026 — First filed.
2. 11 Oct 2026 Updated 15 Oct World New Mexico, US 2450 MW Delayed

   Oracle's 2.45GW 'Project Jupiter' hits a force-majeure notice

   Oracle issued a force-majeure notice over power delays at its New Mexico campus (2.45GW, for OpenAI's Stargate), and is trucking compressed gas to sites in Utah and Texas — delivered gas costs about four times pipeline gas — while it waits for a delayed pipeline. On 15 October Oracle pressed FERC again to approve the 'Green Chile' gas pipeline (about 400m cubic feet a day, feeding Bloom fuel cells), warning that further delay 'threatens the operational schedule of Project Jupiter'; the line's in-service date has slipped to February 2027.

   Why it matters: When power is late it is now a contractual event — the physical bottleneck becoming a financial one.

   Source: Reuters / remio [C]

   Changes (2)

   1. 15 Oct 2026 — Added Oracle's fresh FERC letter pressing for the Green Chile gas pipeline, now slipped to February 2027.
   2. 11 Oct 2026 — First filed.
3. 14 Oct 2026 World Texas, US Policy

   Texas freezes data-centre permits for a state-wide audit

   Governor Greg Abbott's state-wide audit of data centres has frozen new TCEQ environmental permits and paused ERCOT's 'Batch Zero' interconnection approvals, with the review due to conclude by 10 December 2026. It covers water sourcing, reliance on grid power versus self-generation, use of financial assistance, and community-impact mitigation (noise, light). Fitch says rated Texas projects are largely insulated — but credit risk rises if the freeze extends and delays rent commencement.

   Why it matters: A US state pausing permissions to count what it is actually approving — the audit-as-brake move the UK keeps flirting with.

   Source: Fitch Ratings [C]

4. 14 Oct 2026 World Kentucky, US 1800 MW Reported

   Brookfield and NextEra plan a $100bn AI hub on a Cold War nuclear site

   The US Department of Energy announced a ~$100bn private investment to turn the former Paducah uranium-enrichment site in Kentucky into the 'Paducah American Energy Hub': Brookfield will build a 1.8GW AI/HPC data-centre campus and NextEra 2GW of gas-fired generation plus 2.6GW of batteries, on dedicated supply designed to return excess power to the grid. Phased to 2032; about 8,000 construction and 600 permanent jobs; closed-loop cooling.

   Why it matters: Decommissioned nuclear and industrial land, repackaged as an AI power campus — the pattern the UK keeps reaching for.

   Source: Yahoo Finance [C]

5. 14 Oct 2026 World Massachusetts, US 274 MW Refused

   Westfield blocks a $4bn data centre — New England's largest

   The Westfield planning board refused to extend the construction permit for Servistar's $4bn campus — 10 buildings and 274MW, which would have been New England's largest. The city's one-year moratorium (from July) means a fresh attempt could only come next July, and any new bid would face demands to protect the water supply. Data Center Watch counts 75 projects worth $130bn cancelled nationally in Q1 2026.

   Why it matters: A rare outright stop — and evidence the local revolt is large enough to see in the national numbers.

   Source: The Boston Globe [C]

6. 14 Oct 2026 World Israel 200 MW Policy

   Israel moves to cap new data centres at 200MW

   Israel's Electricity Authority is preparing rules to limit any new data centre to 200MW, with a draft out for consultation this week. Developers have requested around 27,000MW of grid connections against 18,800MW of installed generation, and the authority projects data centres could reach about 20% of national electricity consumption by 2030.

   Why it matters: A small grid doing the arithmetic first — capping the size of the load to protect the system.

   Source: Calcalist / Ctech [C]

7. 13 Oct 2026 Updated 14 Oct World United States Policy

   FERC approves a PJM data-centre database — but rejects its whole framework

   FERC approved PJM's plan to build a data-centre database across its footprint — location, power provider, in-service date, load ramp-up and backup generation/fuel — to sharpen grid planning. But it rejected most of PJM's wider framework, including its bring-your-own-capacity and curtailment provisions, as exceeding the grid operator's authority and discriminating against large loads. Within days, PJM issued a maximum-generation alert as warm weather strained the system, and the DOE authorised emergency measures; PJM-area power prices are set to rise more than 60%.

   Why it matters: A grid operator wants the data before it plans — but the regulator won't let it switch the load off or force it to build its own power.

   Source: Bisnow / DCD [C]

   Changes (2)

   1. 14 Oct 2026 — Broadened: FERC rejected most of PJM's framework (its bring-your-own-capacity and curtailment provisions) as exceeding its authority; added PJM's Monday maximum-generation alert, DOE emergency measures, and the >60% price rise.
   2. 13 Oct 2026 — First filed.
8. 14 Oct 2026 World Ohio, US 10000 MW Policy

   PJM to study SoftBank's ~10GW Ohio 'Flagship' under a state agreement approach

   PJM has filed a study agreement at FERC to assess SoftBank's ~10GW 'Flagship' AI data-centre complex on federal land in Ohio under a 'state agreement approach' — roughly 9.6GW of new load plus 10.2GW of gas generation built in phases to 2032, with three 765kV transmission lines by AEP Ohio. An initial 800MW phase is served under AEP Ohio's data-centre tariff.

   Why it matters: Gigawatt load and gigawatt gas, studied together as one transmission project — the grid's new unit of account.

   Source: Utility Dive [C]

9. 14 Oct 2026 UK National Reported

   Gas microgrids pitched as 'sustainable' power for data centres

   AVK-SEG — the firm behind Europe's first gas-microgrid data centre (Pure DC's 90MW Dublin site) — is piloting gas turbines plus carbon capture to power data centres in northern England and lobbying to gas-power the AI boom, DeSmog reports. It notes the UK undercounted data-centre emissions by more than 100×; revised figures predict 123 Mt CO₂ from data centres by 2035.

   Why it matters: Fossil gas is being rebranded 'sustainable' — with carbon capture experts call unproven.

   Source: DeSmog [C]

10. 14 Oct 2026 UK National Reported

    UK 'one of Europe's slowest-growing' data-centre markets

    Kearney puts UK demand growth at ~17.6% a year to 2030 — second-last in Europe behind Germany — against 37.6% (Finland) and 36.8% (Norway). Build cost is ~€2.25m/MW in the UK and Western Europe versus ~€600k in the Nordics; the fix is cheaper power, cheaper land and faster grid connections.

    Why it matters: The investment is mobile: as one consultancy put it, 'everything else will go where it is easier to build'.

    Source: Kearney via City AM [C]

11. 14 Oct 2026 UK North Tyneside, England 1100 MW Policy

    FOI: OpenAI and Nscale never visited the UK's flagship 'Stargate' site

    Freedom-of-information documents show neither OpenAI nor its partner Nscale met North Tyneside or North East officials before the government unveiled the Cobalt Park 'Stargate UK' data centre during Trump's September 2025 state visit; only Nvidia visited, five months later, and no grid connection was identified for the touted 1.1GW. (The FOI findings were first reported in July 2026.) The project was paused in April 2026; the government says a taskforce is still overseeing up to 400MW by 2028.

    Why it matters: The gap between an announcement and a project — and what FOI reveals about the flagship AI-growth case.

    Source: Computing / Guardian FOI [C]

12. 14 Oct 2026 World United Kingdom Reported

    Photonic-switch startup raises $125m to cut data-centre power

    Oxford's Salience Labs has raised $125m (£94m) — led by Bullhound, with AMD Ventures, Intel Capital and the British Business Bank — to scale silicon-photonic optical circuit switching, which keeps data as light to cut the energy spent moving it between chips. It follows a 64-port switch demonstration, with 128- and 256-port products on the roadmap.

    Why it matters: Power, not silicon, is the bottleneck — so money is flowing to anything that cuts energy per unit of compute.

    Source: City AM / Unite.AI [C]

13. 14 Oct 2026 World Oregon, US Policy

    Oregon pauses environmental permits for new data centres

    Governor Tina Kotek ordered the state's environmental regulator to stop approving new air- and water-pollution permits for data centres until next July — an effective moratorium on new builds and expansions, following a year-long pause on state land. It could hit Amazon's proposed Boardman hyperscale site; Amazon calls the move abrupt and says it will cost thousands of jobs.

    Why it matters: A US state braking the build-out through pollution permits, not planning — the same lever the UK debate keeps reaching for.

    Source: KOIN / Oregon Capital Chronicle [C]

14. 14 Oct 2026 World Japan Pre-application

    NYK consortium floats a port-based data centre concept

    Japanese shipping group NYK, with NTT Facilities, Eurus Energy and MUFG Bank, has developed a concept for data centres moored alongside quays in ports — running on local generation and offshore wind — pitched as a way around land, electricity-supply and construction-time constraints.

    Why it matters: As land and power run short on shore, the search for somewhere to put the compute heads onto the water.

    Source: NYK Line / Smart Maritime Network [C]

15. 13 Oct 2026 World County Clare, Ireland 200 MW Approved

    Ireland's Supreme Court clears the €1.6bn Ennis data centre

    Ireland's Supreme Court has refused leave to appeal against the approval of Art Data Centres' €1.6bn, 200MW campus outside Ennis, County Clare — ending a long legal challenge and clearing the scheme's last hurdle, after the High Court dismissed the judicial review in March 2026 and refused leave in May.

    Why it matters: A test of whether Ireland's planning system keeps saying 'yes' to 200MW campuses — as its grid tightens.

    Source: Data Centre Review [C]