The momentum: Senators said they’re close to wrapping up a bipartisan agreement that would streamline permitting for generation and transmission projects. It could come together in the coming weeks. And if not? Negotiations might not resume until after the November elections. 

The holdup: Last week, the House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act with an overwhelming majority—but now, it has run into a roadblock in the Senate. Democrats, especially Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, want a bill with more bite (beyond “voluntary pledges, or suggestions to states,” Heinrich said).

The details: VA Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced a sweeping plan to rein in data centers, including 1) directing utilities to “allocate a more equitable share” of generation and transmission costs to these facilities 2) ordering a review of the emissions and air quality impacts from diesel generators and 3) requiring local approval of projects >25 MW. 

But that’s not all: Next year, Spanberger said she wants the Democrat-controlled VA legislature to limit the amount of power that data centers can generate from gas and incentivize them to bring their own clean energy. 

The big picture: Paired with a recent county-level moratorium in the state’s Data Center Alley, this move signals that Virginia officials are shifting gears and getting more cautious—and VA’s change of heart could set an example for the rest of the country.

Meanwhile, over in Nevada: Gov. Joe Lombardo has laid out guardrails for data centers receiving tax breaks, which he said must foot their own power bills.

The state of affairs: The country’s hydro fleet is “quietly getting buried by its own permitting process,” a new National Hydropower Association analysis notes. Today, hydro facilities run into roughly 10x more operating requirements than those listed in their original licenses.

The result: More plants are shuttering to avoid a complex and costly process—depriving the grid of sorely needed electrons. 

A solution? Last week, the Senate passed a bill to streamline and offer more transparency around hydro relicensing. It’s great timing: Nearly 350 permits (accounting for 12 GW of power) will be up for relicensing within the next decade. 

What happened: A Trump-appointed judge in Rhode Island has reversed the EPA’s decision to pull funding for the Solar for All Program, which aims to bring residential solar to over 900K households. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the program a “boondoggle.”

The judge’s reasoning? The EPA can’t backtrack on already awarded funds. Now, the agency said it’s reviewing the decision—and might appeal it in court. 

Zooming out: The Trump administration has scrapped several Biden-era clean energy initiatives, including $20B in grants offered to projects around the country. But last month, a court reversed that move, too.

In New England: ISO-NE has tapped Eversource and Avangrid to roll out transmission upgrades. These will increase the flow of power from Maine into New Hampshire and southern New England (where power is particularly pricey at the moment). 

The project includes new, rebuilt, and reconductored lines, and could send up to 1.2 GW of onshore wind from northern New England into the regional grid. It’s estimated to save $1.4B in production and congestion costs. Construction is slated to kick off in 2029 (hinging on federal and state approval). 

And in the Midwest: Last month, the Wisconsin PSC forced American Transmission Co. to restart the application process for a proposed $1B transmission project to serve OpenAI and Oracle data centers—now, ATC is tossing its hat back into the ring.

Bid day: The IOU will become the ninth member of EDAM, and predicts the move could save its customers over $90M/year due to benefits like lower production costs and upped market sales revenues. NV Energy will offer the market up to 6.6 GW of capacity (more than half sourced from renewables) and important transmission infrastructure linking it to adjacent states. 

The wildcard: BPA could follow in NV Energy’s footsteps. Administrator Travis Kavulla is considering the move—on several conditions. He’d like to see ROWE, an org governing EDAM, commit to independent board leadership and stakeholder-driven governance.