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Key developments
Power squeeze hits projects and ratepayers
Reuters reported that data-center demand is now flowing into industrial bills in PJM: Belden Brick's electricity costs in Sugarcreek, Ohio, jumped about 90% last year, including a capacity charge increase from $1,600 to $12,000 a month. PJM capacity prices rose from $28.92/MW-day in 2024 to $329.17/MW-day, and Reuters said average industrial electricity prices were up 31% in Pennsylvania and 26% in Ohio by December 2025. Separately, The Guardian reported Uptime Institute identified 250 global projects above 100MW announced from 2021 to 2024 and expects roughly half to be canceled or delayed, with grid strain and interconnection constraints central to the risk. Environment + Energy Leader reported PJM's latest interconnection cycle drew more than 800 applications totaling roughly 220GW, while application-to-operation timelines stretched beyond eight years by 2025.
Why it matters
Power access is becoming a direct constraint on AI infrastructure delivery and a cost-allocation fight for industrial customers and regulators.
Sources & driving stories
REUTERS
Reuters coverageTHE GUARDIAN
The Guardian coverageENVIRONMENT + ENERGY LEADER
Environment + Energy Leader coverageLocal moratoriums target large data centers
Spectrum Bay News 9 reported Lakeland, Florida, held public debate Monday on a proposed one-year moratorium covering all future data centers and large industrial facilities needing at least 50MW, after pushback against Project Swan, a 600,000-square-foot hyperscale proposal that developer Ryan Companies said would need about 100MW if Lakeland Electric can supply it. Lakeland scheduled another public hearing for July 20 and a final vote for Aug. 3. In Missouri, the City of Independence said its council approved a temporary moratorium on new data center and battery storage applications while exempting authorized projects such as Nebius; St. Charles County said it is weighing a six-month moratorium for facilities above 5MW, over 100,000 square feet, or multi-building campuses, with a vote possible as early as July 13.
Why it matters
The permitting fight is shifting from ad hoc neighborhood opposition to formal local pauses, thresholds and study processes.
Sources & driving stories
SPECTRUM BAY NEWS 9
Spectrum Bay News 9 coverageCITY OF INDEPENDENCE · Sherae Honeycutt
City of Independence coverageST. CHARLES COUNTY GOVERNMENT
St. Charles County Government coverageTeraWulf signs $19 billion Anthropic lease
Reuters reported July 6 that TeraWulf signed a 20-year lease with Anthropic for AI data-center infrastructure expected to produce about $19 billion of contracted revenue. The lease covers TeraWulf's Justified Data campus in Hawesville, Kentucky, supporting about 401MW of critical IT load, with initial capacity expected in the second half of 2027 and full capacity by early 2028. TeraWulf also agreed to sell its 50.1% Abernathy joint-venture stake to a Fluidstack-led investor group to fund wholly owned AI infrastructure projects.
Why it matters
The deal shows large AI buyers locking up long-duration capacity while bitcoin-mining infrastructure owners pivot toward contracted AI hosting.
Sources & driving stories
REUTERS
Reuters coverageWorth noting
WORTH NOTING
Cheyenne bans fill-and-flush discharges
Futurism reported Cheyenne revoked data-center fill-and-flush discharge after rare multidrug-resistant Cupriavidus gilardii was found in municipal wastewater tied to Goat Systems/Meta's under-construction 800,000-square-foot campus; Meta said contractor Fortis stopped discharge and began hauling wastewater offsite.
WORTH NOTING
UK speeds data-center planning route
The Register's Dan Robinson reported UK Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 reforms extend the NSIP route to data centers and scrap statutory pre-application consultation, setting up a national policy statement expected this autumn.
WORTH NOTING
AWS fees may retire county debt
WLBT's Holly Emery reported Madison County, Mississippi, voted to use AWS data-center fee-in-lieu revenues to accelerate repayment of a $215 million state loan, with debt projected to be gone by 2032 and more than $145 million a year flowing locally by 2033.
Still unclear
OPEN QUESTION
Who absorbs new grid costs?
PJM capacity charges, factory bills and local residential-rate concerns are turning data-center growth into a regulatory cost-shifting dispute.
OPEN QUESTION
Does onsite power become the workaround?
Uptime's finding that the largest planned projects propose 45GW of onsite power, much of it gas-fired, raises questions about emissions, permitting and grid-bypass economics.