Billions of Dollars, Nowhere to Plug In | Reading and Podcast Picks - June 7, 2026
Data centers and grid access; Texas battery storage leads the nation; the Texas Energy Fund's first projects; home efficiency rebates lose electrification; and regaining data centers' social license.
Reading and Podcast Picks is a collection of what we’ve been reading and listening to over the last week or so about energy topics.
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America’s Data-Center Build-Out Is Falling Way Behind Schedule | The Wall Street Journal
Despite major funds to finance data centers, tech giants are struggling to get their projects off the ground. Though the capital is available, companies face challenges getting approval from grid operators to connect to the system given the incredible strain the facilities can pose.
“Because of how much uncertainty there is about how many data centers are real, about how much load is going to be connected, it has kind of paralyzed a lot of the processes,” said Josh Rhodes, an energy expert at the University of Texas at Austin…
It’s a seeming paradox: If hyperscalers can’t break ground on many of the projects they have already announced, what difference can hundreds of billions of dollars more make—however eager Wall Street may be to supply it?..
Analysts and power-industry experts say [Google’s] strategy of securing its own sources of generation and investing in the ability to shift computing loads to follow power supply could allow it to get its data centers connected to the grid faster than competitors and provide new avenues for deploying its swelling war chest.
A Speed for Security Bargain For AI Data Centers | Institute for Progress
An interesting policy brief by IFP recommending a framework for FERCs to adopt at the meeting in June (end of June). The brief suggests faster grid access to data centers that are curtail able and implement binding cybersecurity controls. Talks about the millisecond/tens of megawatts load shed/spike that is possible with AI data centers and the risk it presents as a potential weapon for bad actors. Claude’s Mythos (super powerful model) is both a signal and a possible solution to the issue and a staging/filter for interconnection consideration.
The Texas Energy Fund’s first projects are coming online | Latitude Media
Earlier this month, the much discussed Texas Energy Fund’s first power generation project came online. with more coming soon. The TEF program, launched in 2024, aims to help finance gas generation but has
