A record-breaking heat wave just pushed America's largest power grid to the brink — and federal regulators responded by ordering data centers off the grid and onto their own backup generators. From an Indiana county racing to freeze new builds, to a courtroom fight in California, to a $200 billion Meta campus swallowing rural Louisiana, here's what's reshaping the U.S. data center landscape right now.
⚡ **POWER** — As a brutal heat wave hit the East, PJM demand surged to ~163,000 MW — just short of the 165,563 MW record set in 2006. The DOE issued its third emergency order of 2026, letting PJM curtail data centers and other 50 MW-plus users and force them onto backup generators. Spot power briefly topped $2,500/MWh. (Source: Spokesman-Review / U.S. News / Reuters)
🚨 **COMMUNITY** — In Clark County, Indiana, Commission President Bryan Glover floated asking the plan board to recommend a one-year data center moratorium, buying time to overhaul the county's Unified Development Ordinance and benchmark it against other jurisdictions. (Source: WAVE3 / News and Tribune)
⚖️ **LEGAL** — A developer sued to overturn Imperial County, California's 45-day data center moratorium, seeking a temporary restraining order and arguing the county never proved a true emergency — the latest in a wave of challenges from Kentucky to Texas. (Source: Interconnected Capital)
🔥 **AI / TECH** — Meta's "Hyperion" campus in rural Louisiana — a roughly $200 billion AI data center — is transforming the region. Gov. Jeff Landry touts $2 billion in Entergy customer savings over 20 years; Monroe Mayor Friday Ellis calls it "the thing we've been asking for," even as residents cite cracked windshields and housing costs. (Source: Bloomberg)
💧 **WATER** — As drought grips central Virginia, Richmond and Henrico County leaders urged all customers to conserve water — stressing data centers are not exempt, despite drawing millions of gallons a day. (Source: Henrico Citizen / EESI)
🗳️ **POLICY** — More than 300 data center bills have been filed across 30 states. As of July 1, Arizona froze its sales-tax exemption for three years and Illinois and Ohio paused incentives, while New York, South Dakota and Oklahoma floated moratoriums. (Source: MultiState / Good Jobs First)
🏗️ **NEW BUILD** — Crews broke ground on "Lighthouse," a $15 billion Vantage Data Centers campus in Port Washington, Wisconsin — a 672-acre site north of Milwaukee and one of the largest data center projects in state history. (Source: BizTimes)
💰 **INVESTMENT** — Digital Realty agreed to buy out Blackstone's stake in three fully leased Northern Virginia data centers, a 288 MW portfolio valued at $7.8 billion, with Blackstone receiving $3.5 billion in cash and shares. (Source: Blackstone / Reuters)
