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Key developments
Wisconsin forecasts data-center-driven 40% load surge
Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission draft Strategic Energy Assessment projects peak electricity demand rising from 14.2 GW in 2026 to more than 20 GW by 2032. The PSC attributes about 72% of the increase to three hyperscale projects: Microsoft’s 2.6 GW Mount Pleasant site, Meta’s Beaver Dam development, and a 1.3 GW Port Washington campus serving Oracle and OpenAI. Utilities now plan 5.4 GW of new or upgraded gas capacity, more than 5 GW of solar, about 1.3 GW of wind, and expanded storage, while pursuing separate large-customer rates for data centers.
Why it matters
The forecast crystallizes how AI campuses are reshaping utility planning, generation mix, rates, and reliability debates in a major Midwest growth market.
Sources & driving stories
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel coverageWISPOLITICS · Alex Moe
WisPolitics coverageQTS terminates Prince William Digital Gateway
QTS withdrew its legal challenge at the Virginia Supreme Court and terminated the PW Digital Gateway project near Gainesville, Virginia, according to WTOP. The proposed campus would have covered more than 2,000 acres along Pageland Lane next to Manassas National Battlefield Park and included over 22 million square feet of data centers. A circuit court voided the county’s 2023 rezoning approvals over improper public notice, and the Virginia Court of Appeals upheld that ruling on March 31.
Why it matters
The collapse of one of the world’s largest proposed campuses shows that even top-tier Northern Virginia data center projects remain vulnerable to procedural, legal, and conservation challenges.
Sources & driving stories
WTOP NEWS
WTOP News coveragePJM orders curbs as grid strains
Reuters reported that PJM ordered industrial and residential customers in emergency demand-response programs to cut electricity use Friday evening as heat, generator outages, and transmission congestion pushed the grid near record demand. PJM’s preliminary Thursday peak was about 163 GW, close to its 165.6 GW all-time record, with demand-response already suppressing load. Spot wholesale prices in Mid-Atlantic and Dominion transmission zones, which include the world’s largest data center concentration, rose above $2,500/MWh versus roughly $40/MWh in normal conditions.
Why it matters
The emergency highlights how transmission bottlenecks and reserve margins in data-center-heavy regions can translate quickly into operational and power-cost risk.
Sources & driving stories
REUTERS
Reuters coverageWorth noting
WORTH NOTING
Local controls and lawsuits broaden
South Hanover Township voted to advertise a data center overlay ordinance, New Mexico lawmakers said they will pursue a 2027 statewide moratorium, and Wisconsin residents filed a class-action noise suit over Microsoft’s Fairwater campus.
WORTH NOTING
Blackstone sells Northern Virginia assets
Blackstone announced a $3.5 billion transaction with Digital Realty covering fully leased hyperscale facilities in Northern Virginia, using cash and stock while retaining sector exposure through equity and joint ventures.
WORTH NOTING
Pennsylvania responder bill advances
House Bill 2535 advanced from committee and would require data centers to provide annual floor plans and infrastructure inventories to fire officials, including battery, cooling-agent, and fuel-storage details.
Still unclear
OPEN QUESTION
Will hyperscalers absorb full grid costs?
Wisconsin utilities are pushing separate large-customer rates while PJM price spikes show how quickly grid stress can become a public cost and reliability issue.
OPEN QUESTION
Are approval timelines becoming less predictable?
Digital Gateway’s collapse, new overlay rules, proposed moratoria, and nuisance litigation suggest legal and local-process risk is becoming central to data center development.