Under new federal timelines mandated by a 2025 executive order, the NRC finished its review of the South Carolina plant in just 12 months, slashing six months off the previous schedule.

This marks the plant’s second 20-year renewal (the first came in 2004). The 759 MW Robinson Unit 2, which first powered up in 1970, is now authorized to keep chugging along until July 2050…at which time we hope to be sipping a piña colada on a beach somewhere.

The governor’s reasoning? It’s a jobs thing. While she said she thinks a “moratorium is appropriate,” the bill passed by legislators would jeopardize a data center being built in the town of Jay, which Mills said would bring 800 temporary and 100 permanent jobs to the area.

Keep in mind: 12 other states are also considering legislative moratoriums on data center construction.

Hull Street Energy wants to buy two plants totaling 1,267 MW from Rockland Capital. PJM’s market monitor’s take? The deal would redirect the plants away from PJM’s grid capacity to just serve (you guessed it) data centers.

With supply tightening and demand spiking, the watchdog said this deal “enhances HSE’s ability to exercise market power adverse to competition and adverse to rates,” making the deal “inconsistent with the public interest.”

Sec. Doug Burgum consolidated the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) into a single entity, reuniting leasing and safety oversight functions that were separated after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster to prevent conflicts of interest.

Who does what: The MMA will manage a huge expansion of oil & gas leasing in the Gulf and Alaska, along with the launch of the nation’s first offshore mining industry. Worth noting? Headcount and funding are set for cuts in Interior’s FY27 budget…along with oil spill research and renewable energy activity.

CEO John Ketchum noted that 200–300 MW projects no longer “get it done” for data center giants. NextEra is now focused on building 2–5 GW hubs, contributing to a total development backlog that’s ballooned to 33 GW.

The vision: “I truly believe that we need to be, as a country, looking at data centers as giant batteries that sit behind the grid,” Ketchum said. Think: data center hubs that can support overall system reliability and benefit all ratepayers.

The challenge: Workforce. NextEra’s gas buildout has enough turbines, but not enough skilled labor. Contractors are being cannibalized by competing projects for LNG terminals and data centers.

Itron said an “unauthorized third party” gained access to its internal IT systems earlier this month. The company activated its contingency response, engaged external investigators, and notified law enforcement to remediate the intrusion.

Big picture: Itron said it expelled the hackers and hasn’t logged any further intrusions to its internal systems, but attacks like these illustrate the potential vulnerability of smart meters and grid-edge innovations: The techier the grid gets, the more complicated it gets, too.

GM confirmed it reached its 100% US renewable target last year, matching every kWh used across its domestic sites and facilities. Globally, the company matched 70% of its electricity consumption with renewables in 2025—nearly 2Xing its 2023 performance.

The energy mix: 40% comes from utility green-power programs, 37% from VPPAs, and 14% from RECs. GM expects to phase out RECs as long-term projects, like NorthStar Clean Energy’s 180-MW solar farm in AK, come online.