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DOE Announces Site Selection for Energy Infrastructure and AI Data Centers on Federal Lands

LCG, July 24, 2025--The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the next steps in the Trump administration’s plan to accelerate the development of AI infrastructure by using Federal lands to lower energy costs and help power the global AI race, as previously outlined in President Trump’s Executive Orders on Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure, Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security, and Unleashing American Energy.

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Enbridge Announces 600-MW Solar Project in Texas to Power Meta Data Center Operations

LCG, July 22, 2025--Enbridge Inc. (Enbridge) today announced that it has reached a final investment decision on the Clear Fork solar project located near San Antonio, Texas. Meta Platforms, Inc. (Meta), has signed a long-term contract for all of the renewable power generated from the 600-MW project.

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Industry News

New Problem for Cal-ISO: Interruptible Contracts Used Up

LCG, Jan. 23, 2001The California Independent System Operator, whenever it calls a "Stage 2" electricity emergency, orders the state's investor-owned electric utilities to shed load by shutting off power to industrial customers who have signed interruptible contracts in exchange for lower prices.

The move can reduce demand by almost 3,000 megawatts and help Cal-ISO avoid ordering rolling blackouts to protect California's shaky transmission grid. The agency declared more than 20 such emergencies last summer and since last fall has kept the state on what seems to be a perpetual Stage 2 alert.

Interruptible contracts, it turns out, aren't forever. Companies that signed them didn't agree to send their workers home every day. Permanente Cement Co. on the San Francisco Peninsula, for example, can be asked to interrupt its electric service for only 100 hours per year, a mark that could be exceeded today.

Yesterday, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. warned Cal-ISO that it has exhausted the entire allowance for the program in its service territory for this year. That includes most of Central and Northern California.

"Many times during this crisis, the interruptible program has made the difference between keepingthe lights on and having rotating outages," said Jeff Butler, a PG&E vice president. "Without these customers voluntarily serving as a buffer, the CAISO may have to implement the rotating block outage program much sooner if they are not able to buy enough power to meet the needs of our customers."

PG&E has about 170 interruptible customers who can be asked to take 400 megawatts of demand off the grid under a stage 2. The problem will get worse as Southern California Edison Co. nears exhaustion of its interruptible allowances. It has something like 1,500 customers representing 1,200 megawatts of interruptible load. Figures from San Diego Gas & Electricity Co. were not available this morning.

The state's power picture improved yesterday as some plants, shut down for repairs after last year's non-stop service, were put back to work. Cal-ISO said 7,600 megawatts of generation was still off line yesterday, but that was a vast improvement over last week when 10,500 megawatts was out of action.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and power, the largest municipal utility in the U.S. and unaffected by California's power woes, has been helping Cal-ISO out by selling it surplus power at market rates. Yesterday, the LADWP furnished the state with 550 megawatts and this morning said it has up to 1,000 megawatts for sale today.

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