FERC ordered NERC this week to file mandatory reliability standards for data center and computational loads by December 31, 2026. The framework that let hyperscale development negotiate interconnection terms project by project is being replaced with enforceable federal standards, and utilities will start pre-aligning their study processes long before the deadline. If your queue positions were structured under legacy load assumptions, the re-evaluation starts now.
Also this week: PJM's capacity auction hit the $325/MW-day price cap while falling 6.8 GW short of its reliability target, the third consecutive shortfall, with a September backstop procurement now heading to FERC. Virginia's first-in-the-nation data center electricity tax took effect at $0.011/kWh, landing directly on Data Center Alley. And Crusoe and Lancium announced a 1 GW grid-connected AI campus in Childress, Texas, with construction starting Q3.
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