Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Wednesday July 22, 2026
Asterisk (*) denotes news stories that may be inaccessible because portions are behind a paywall
Good morning! Here are today’s Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Oil prices extended gains on Wednesday as fears of further supply disruptions intensified after U.S. forces struck Iranian military targets for the 11th straight night, while oil tankers made U-turns in the Red Sea after warnings by Iran-backed Houthi militia.
West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 82 cents, or 1.0%, to $85.16.
Brent crude futures rose $1, or 1.1%, to $92.01 a barrel at 0330 GMT.
The gains came after oil settled at a five-week high on Tuesday in the wake of U.S. forces striking targets in southern and western Iran, while Iran attacked U.S. facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
The U.S. military said it began its latest strikes on Iran late on Tuesday in the United States, or early Wednesday in Iran. The U.S. attacks came a short while after the Kuwaiti army said its air defences were intercepting Iranian drones on Wednesday.
The constant trading of strikes have raised fears of further disruptions to global energy supplies after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis opened a new front in the Iran war by threatening to target vessels carrying Saudi oil in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and announcing a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters.
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Top Stories
Crypto Briefing – July 21, 2026
Halliburton secures five-year contract with Basra Oil for Iraq field services
Related: Halliburton shares fell more than 6% on Tuesday after the U.S. oilfield services provider forecast weaker third-quarter revenue and flagged uncertainty about the pace of recovery in the Middle East — Reuters*
Halliburton has secured a significant contract with Iraq’s Basra Oil Company to provide services for oil fields in southern Iraq. This five-year integrated management contract involves the development of the Bin Umar and Sindbad oil fields, aiming to enhance production capacity significantly. The deal, officially announced on July 20, 2026, reflects Iraq’s strategic efforts to boost its national oil and gas capacity under Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi. Payments for the contract’s services are tied to verified completed work, aligning with Iraq’s recent collaborations with other U.S. firms like Chevron and KBR.
The announcement appears to have drawn attention within the commodity markets, particularly in the context of WTI crude oil prices. The potential increase in oil production capacity in Iraq could influence oil prices, especially if geopolitical conditions remain stable. Current market indicators suggest that participants are weighing the potential impacts on oil prices, with some pricing consistent with increased likelihood of higher WTI prices in July.
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Austin American-Statesman – July 21, 2026
ERCOT predicts record demand as temperatures across the state rise to triple digits*
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is expecting record energy demand this week as temperatures across Texas rise to triple digits. Grid demand is expected to surpass the previous record by Wednesday afternoon, when San Antonio and Austin could record 100-degree readings — the first of the year for the Alamo City. But while the grid operator is bracing for a surge in demand, it isn’t calling for energy reductions or issuing emergency alerts.
“The grid is operating under normal conditions,” said Trudi Webster, ERCOT communications manager. “ERCOT will continue to keep Texans updated through our communications channels.” The “business as usual” approach is in part because of the massive amount of solar power that’s been added to the grid, said Joshua Rhodes, a power grid expert at the University of Texas at Austin.
“The same sun that heats up the buildings that drive air conditioning loads is the same sun that makes electricity at solar panels at that time,” Rhodes said. “We’re pretty well situated to have that surge in demand taken care of.” The previous record of 85,508 megawatts was set in August 2023, when blistering heat had air-conditioning systems across the state running nonstop blasting out cool air. That was an increase of 10 gigawatts over the previous peak set in 2021, Rhodes said. Back then, though, less than 5% of the grid’s energy came from solar power.
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KLBK – July 21, 2026
Utility commission moves to lower electricity costs, prepare for data centers
Related: That indicates a big shift in thinking, according to University of Houston Professor Dr. Ramanan Krishnamoorti. “The idea a year ago was to bring in data centers of all stripes, all kinds,” he explained. “And consumer affordability was not a big factor in play.” Krishnamoorti said the recent correspondence between Abbott and PUC Chairman Thomas Gleeson tells a new story. — KTRK
The Public Utility Commission of Texas, the directing body of ERCOT, filed a letter and memorandum for Governor Abbott detailing its plans to protect Texans from rising costs due to data centers. The memo, per the governor’s request, detailed ongoing projects and needs from the 2027 legislative session. “There’ll probably be 181 members that will file 181 best practices bills for data centers,” said State Senator Charles Perry (R-Lubbock). “The PUC has over 200 data center applications, the bulk of them will never see the light of day.”
PUC Chairman Thomas Gleeson said in the letter he agrees that the state should prioritize affordability and reliability of the electric grid. The PUC already requires new large load customers like data centers to provide their own power, and is focused on making them pay for interconnection up front. Perry said much of the memo talks about policies that have been in the works for years.
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CNBC – July 21, 2026
Abu Dhabi approves $6.2 billion gas project to boost UAE supply
Abu Dhabi’s National Oil Company will invest $6.2 billion to develop the Umm Shaif Gas Cap, a massive offshore oil and gas field, as part of its strategy to expand natural gas production and liquefied natural gas exports. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, usually an avenue for around 20% of the world’s LNG trade, have underscored the importance of the project and highlighted the vulnerability of global energy supplies. Umm Shaif, Abu Dhabi’s longest-operating offshore field, is being developed alongside TotalEnergies, Eni and China National Petroleum Corporation.
The field will unlock more than 600 million standard cubic feet of natural gas and associated gas liquids per day, according to ADNOC, equivalent to nearly 10% of the UAE’s current daily gas consumption. Production is expected to begin by 2030. The investment comes as the UAE seeks to monetize its gas reserves, while strengthening domestic energy security and bolstering its position in global LNG markets. The country holds the world’s seventh-largest proven gas reserves, in addition to its over four million barrels per day of oil production. The UAE left OPEC earlier this year and now has no output limits. Abu Dhabi is hoping to surpass 5 million barrels per day of production by next year.
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S&P Global Platts – July 21, 2026
Tropical Storm Bertha to weaken July 22-24; heat wave boosts Texas power prices
Related: A blast of intense heat across eastern Texas is set to challenge the state grid’s all-time power demand record. Preliminary estimates from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or Ercot, show demand late Monday afternoon neared the 85.508 gigawatts record set in August 2023. The grid operator has forecast even higher peak loads Tuesday and Wednesday evening. As cooling demand spiked, the grid operator said more than 114 gigawatts was available to supply the system on Monday — Bloomberg*
Tropical Storm Bertha may have reached its peak intensity offshore of the northern Gulf Coast, weather forecasters said July 21, but electric utilities along the westward forecast path continued to monitor the storm and prepare for any consequences. Across 11 hurricanes affecting Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions from 2022 to 2025, loads dropped an average 20.2%, and power prices dropped an average 29.5%, S&P Global Energy data shows.
At the four affected locations where S&P Global Energy had natural gas power burn data, those numbers fell an average of about 20% from the same day a week prior. Across the region’s relevant gas price points, Platts spot gas indexes from S&P Global Energy fell 12.5% from the same day a week prior.
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The Latest TERse Tips
BP has followed Chevron in evacuating some of its personnel from US Gulf assets as Tropical Storm Bertha continues to gain speed in the region, the UK supermajor said Tuesday — BP moved some non-essential workers from its operated Thunder Horse and Na Kika platforms, the company confirmed to Upstream
Saudis Reach Deal With U.S. That Could Let Them Enrich Nuclear Fuel — U.S. lawmakers and Israeli officials have expressed opposition to such a plan, to be announced Wednesday, fearing that the kingdom could use a civilian nuclear project to develop nuclear weapons — The Wall Street Journal*
JPMorgan, other US banks set to help finance Japan’s $550 billion US investment plan that includes modular nuclear in Texas, sources say — WTVB
Samsung laying off hundreds as it moves U.S. electronics headquarters to Texas — the South Korean tech giant is growing in Plano while cutting jobs elsewhere, including in New Jersey and Texas — San Antonio Express-News*
Texas lawmakers call for audit of state’s broadband grant funding — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows are questioning how the state distributes funding for internet services — Texas Tribune
Fitch Ratings has assigned a ‘AA-’ rating to some electric and gas system revenue refunding bonds to be issued by the city of San Antonio on behalf of San Antonio City Public Service — Fitch
The grueling, 630-mile road race where the only fuel is sunlight — the annual Solar Car Challenge for high school students celebrates its 30th year anniversary with a high-stakes trek across Texas — The Verge
ExxonMobil has removed all staff on oil and gas platforms that are in the path of the Tropical Storm Bertha — Quantum Energy Intelligence*
Crude oil prices could surge to $120 per barrel towards the end of the year if the war in the Middle East extends and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed for longer, Goldman Sachs has warned in its latest prediction in response to geopolitical developments in the Middle East — Oil Price
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Oil & Gas Texas
The Wall Street Journal – July 21, 2026
Ken Paxton Scrambles to Win Back the GOP’s Big-Dollar Donors*
A day after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated longtime Sen. John Cornyn for the party’s Senate nomination, his campaign called billionaire businessman Bob Rowling. Rowling, who had contributed more than $750,000 to groups supporting Cornyn, is one of the high-dollar Republican donors who could be key to Paxton’s efforts in a competitive race. But Rowling, a onetime supporter of Paxton, had been turned off by his alleged extramarital affairs and was emotional over his drubbing of Cornyn, he said. He initially declined to help. Then Rowling got a call from Sen. Ted Cruz, who asked him to meet with Paxton. Rowling said he had begun to consider whether Democratic opponent James Talarico was a concerning enough threat for him to open his wallet again. He ended up taking a meeting with Paxton and Cruz to hear them out.
Rowling’s hesitation highlights the bind confronting a bloc of deep-pocketed Texans weighing how involved to get in the race. Many can’t stomach Paxton—a populist firebrand dogged by legal and ethical scandals and known for targeting corporate interests. But with control of the Senate in the balance and a well-funded Democrat on the other side, some are deciding they can’t afford to sit this one out. Paxton’s success hinges, in part, on winning them back. He has his work cut out for him. After Paxton’s nomination, donors at one major Republican fundraising organization asked that their money not go to him—because his office had sued so many of them, and because they feared he could misuse it, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Paxton will need all the support he can get. Texas is a notoriously expensive state for political campaigns: It has 20 media markets and 19 million registered voters spread across two time zones. Talarico, buoyed by a Democratic base desperate for its first statewide win since 1994, has been a fundraising powerhouse, reporting $27 million in the first quarter of the year and $30 million in the second.
Paxton’s campaign said earlier this month that it had raised just over $9 million in the second quarter. The figure reassured some Republican fundraisers who considered it a decent haul, given the short time since Paxton clinched the May 26 primary runoff. Reports released Wednesday indicate that Talarico’s campaign committees cumulatively have $23.3 million in the bank, while Paxton’s have $6.9 million. “For being the nominee for just 30 days, we feel very confident in our fundraising,” Paxton consultant Nick Maddux said. Recent six-figure Paxton donors include: Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys; the founder of the fitness chain Curves; and the wife of a CEO convicted of fraud and pardoned by President Trump. Most of his top donors haven’t previously contributed to Cornyn.
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S&P Global Platts – July 21, 2026
Americas oil production growth cushions blow from Hormuz closure, experts say
Growing oil production in the Americas has blunted the oil market impact of the closure of Strait of Hormuz during the US-Iran war, compared to the impact that would have occurred with a similar closure 15 years ago, energy experts said July 21. The US was the largest oil and gas producer last year, with production growing 4% in 2025, Nick Wayth, CEO of the UK-based Energy Institute, said during a discussion of the organization’s 2026 Statistical Review of World Energy.
“All of this goes some way to explaining why we’ve not quite seen the sort of catastrophic impacts of the Strait of Hormuz closure,” Wayth said during a webinar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Five years ago, the Americas were about equal to the Middle East in total oil production, Wayth said. But now the Americas produce about 20% more oil than the Middle East, he said.
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Reuters – July 21, 2026
Refiners elbow traders to take a larger slice of Venezuela’s oil*
Refiners and oil-producing firms in the U.S. and elsewhere are gaining market share in Venezuela’s crude as they sign direct contracts with state-run PDVSA, challenging the global traders that inked earlier deals with the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez. Trading houses Vitol and Trafigura currently control the lion’s share of Venezuela’s oil exports through agreements signed in January with Caracas that are overseen by Washington, allowing them to take more than 100 million barrels for resale to final buyers in six months.
PDVSA, however, is slowly going back to the business model it had before U.S. energy sanctions were imposed on the OPEC country in 2019, which prioritizes supply contracts with its joint-venture partners and refineries over intermediaries. … U.S. refiner Phillips 66 in May began buying spot cargoes from PDVSA after a seven-year pause. In July, the company was allocated three cargoes of flagship Merey 16 heavy crude for delivery at the country’s main oil port, Jose, shipping documents showed.
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Fast Company – July 21, 2026
This Texas startup wants to reinvent desalination with a spinning membrane
Growing up in Las Vegas, Hunter Manz took annual trips to nearby Lake Mead with his father. Each year, he watched the reservoir, Southern Nevada’s primary water source, recede further, sparking an early interest in water conservation. As a teenager, Manz began experimenting in his garage with potential solutions to water scarcity. He later enrolled at Utah Tech University, studying mechanical engineering and finance, and learned about desalination, which removes salt and other contaminants from water so it can be used for drinking or industrial purposes.
While in school, Manz began building desalination prototypes. There, he developed what he calls a reverse osmosis centrifuge, or ROC, a first-of-its-kind system that he says is two to three times more energy efficient than conventional desalination technology.
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San Antonio Current – July 20, 2026
The hard ceiling over Texas cities’ climate plans
In 2015, a 25-year-old flooring installer named Roendy Granillo collapsed and died of heat stroke on a construction job in Melissa, a small town northeast of Dallas, after his family said he was denied a water break. They carried his story to Dallas City Hall, and the council passed an ordinance on a 10-5 vote, guaranteeing construction workers a 10-minute rest break every four hours. Austin had passed a similar rule in 2010. The rules stood for more than a decade. Then, in 2023, a single state law erased them both and barred any other Texas city from passing one.
Oil & Gas National & International
The New York Times – July 21, 2026
Oil Firms Knew for Decades of Methane’s Danger to Planet, Documents Suggest*
The oil and gas industry has known for decades that its wells were releasing far more planet-warming methane than companies acknowledged, according to industry documents identified by an environmental group. In a report on the findings released on Monday, the Center for Climate Integrity cited, among other examples, a 1979 report commissioned by the research arm of the American Gas Association, an industry group. That report said that major gas fields in the United States could be releasing far more planet-warming gases than was being officially reported.
Methane, a main component in natural gas, is a particularly potent greenhouse gas when released into the atmosphere. It has “always been unclear what the industry directly knew” about its methane releases, said Steven Hamburg, chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, who has researched the question for years and wasn’t involved in the center’s report. The Center for Climate Integrity is a nonprofit that has called for the oil industry to be held financially responsible for the effects of climate change, which has been caused by the burning of fossil fuels. The group said it examined decades’ worth of industry documents, available in university libraries and other public archives, to draw its conclusions.
Despite industry findings like these, the group said in its report, the industry publicly underplayed the concerns over methane. And as the natural gas industry faced increasing competition from electric stoves and heaters, industry groups worked on an advertising campaign that highlighted gas as a clean fuel, according to documents cited by the Center for Climate Integrity. The American Gas Association, whose research arm commissioned the 1979 review, did not respond to requests for comment. Since 1990, natural gas production has surged in the United States, transforming the nation from a net importer of the fuel to a leading exporter. By the 2010s, the United States had overtaken Russia as the world’s largest producer of natural gas.
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The Wall Street Journal – July 21, 2026
War Risk to Oil Supplies Grows With Red and Black Sea Disruptions*
Global oil supplies face a growing list of disruptions, as a threat by Yemen’s Houthi militants to blockade Saudi Arabia began to take shape and Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s Black Sea shipping disrupted operations of a key pipeline there. Two oil tankers loaded with Saudi crude oil turned around Tuesday. A successful blockade would open another front in the U.S.-Iran conflict and compound the disruption caused by Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Ukrainian efforts to cripple Russia’s war effort have disrupted crude oil shipments in the Black Sea and fuel production at Russian refineries.
The Trump administration urged Kyiv on Tuesday to curb attacks on non-Russian ships, according to a White House official, after a barrage of strikes on ships in the waters near the port of Novorossiysk. The attacks have disrupted flows through a pipeline that delivers Russian and Kazakh oil to the Black Sea. The pipeline is run by a consortium that includes Exxon and Chevron and carries almost 2% of the world’s oil. International benchmark Brent crude rose by 2% to around $91 a barrel on Tuesday, the highest levels in weeks. The Houthi blockade puts oil shipments at risk on the route Saudi Arabia is using to get most of its crude to market. The kingdom typically ships most of its oil out through the Persian Gulf, but Iran’s hold on the Strait of Hormuz has forced it to pipe millions of barrels a day across the Arabian Peninsula and export them through the Red Sea port chokepoint of Bab al-Mandeb instead.
“Any disruption at Bab al-Mandeb would therefore threaten not only Saudi shipments but one of the few remaining routes capable of compensating for the severe reduction in Hormuz traffic,” said Jorge León, head of geopolitical analysis at consulting firm Rystad Energy. The Houthis’ territory sits near the Bab al-Mandeb, which in Arabic means Gate of Tears and connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and Saudi Arabia’s supply routes to its main customers in Asia. The militant group has shut down the waterway repeatedly over the past three years by attacking and even sinking ships.
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Reuters – July 21, 2026
Equinor profit soars on wartime oil and gas prices*
Equinor on Wednesday reported a sharp rise in second-quarter profits, as expected, lifted by a surge in oil and gas prices as the war in the Middle East disrupted global energy supplies. The Norwegian group’s adjusted earnings before tax for the April to June period rose to $11.48 billion from $6.54 billion a year earlier, broadly in line with the $11.37 billion predicted in a poll of 17 analysts compiled by Equinor.
“Strong production in the second quarter enabled us to capture value from higher prices, contributing to strong cash flow and financial results,” CEO Anders Opedal said in a statement. The shares of majority state-owned Equinor are up 54% year-to-date, outperforming a 30% increase in European energy stocks, reflecting its position as a major supplier of oil and gas to Europe and with no direct exposure to the Middle East. The company last month said it will double its share buybacks, returning more cash to owners as the wartime rise in oil and gas prices filled its coffers, while at the same time scaling back investments in renewable energy due to weak demand.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Houston Chronicle – July 21, 2026
As surveys show widespread concern about data centers in Texas, city and county leaders and Democratic and Republican legislators have called for restrictions or moratoriums on new projects across the state. Data center developers seek to use Texas land for new projects as artificial intelligence usage increases, creating a need for additional energy sources and projects to house infrastructure required to power AI. But residents, worried about lack of transparency and the effect the projects could have on their neighborhoods, have pressed legislators to adopt stricter regulations on the projects.
On June 16, San Marcos became the first Texas city to effectively ban data centers within city limits, defining data centers in its code and prohibiting their construction in the city via its zoning rules, the Texas Tribune reported. Some residents and legislators have called for a statewide moratorium on the projects. “There’s a lot of either state or local resistance to data centers and that reflects just a lot of suspicion that data centers will drive up water use or drive up electricity rates or be noisy,” said Michael Webber, an engineering and public affairs professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
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Dallas Morning News/Yahoo! News – July 21, 2026
Memo to Laurel Peltier, retail energy expert
From: The Watchdog
Laurel, I read your recent study on how Texas electricity companies deceive customers and nearly fell out of my chair. You blew up the system.
Good for you.
I’ll include your findings in Part One of my series helping newcomers adjust to moving to the Lone Scam State.
Imagine arriving amid the chaos of a new home, new job, new school and new everything. Then someone tells you to choose a retail electricity plan.Where do you even start?
Here’s the first lesson I’m borrowing from your study: Most Texans overpay for electricity.
They just don’t know it. You estimate that two years ago 11 million Texas families paid a joint total of $4 billion — or $480 a year for a family — in overcharges. That would not have happened if they had stayed with their monopoly electric companies and not moved to retail companies.
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KFOX – July 20, 2026
El Paso council approves fast-track legal response to utility rate, project filings
El Paso city leaders have approved a move aimed at giving the city more power to push back quickly when electric and natural gas companies seek changes that could raise customers’ utility bills. The El Paso City Council approved a measure allowing the City Attorney’s Office to respond more quickly when utility companies seek approval for projects, rate increases or other changes that could affect what residents and businesses pay for electric and natural gas service.
City officials said the action is intended to help protect customers from unnecessary costs by ensuring the city can participate early in regulatory decisions. Utility companies may ask regulators to approve rate increases, recover the costs of major infrastructure projects or build new facilities — decisions that can directly affect customer bills. The city said the faster-response authority will help it review those requests, challenge unreasonable costs and advocate for customers before decisions are finalized.
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KFOX – July 20, 2026
City of El Paso to intervene in EP electric data center rate case
El Paso city leaders are moving to take a formal role in a new state regulatory case that could affect how much local customers pay for electricity as demand grows from large data centers.
The El Paso City Council has authorized the City Attorney’s Office to intervene in a new proceeding before the Public Utility Commission of Texas involving proposed changes to El Paso Electric’s Economic Development Rate for data centers. The council action allows the city to intervene in the case, retain outside legal counsel and technical experts as needed, and advocate for protections aimed at ensuring residential and business customers are not asked to subsidize costs associated with serving large, high-energy users.
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Royse City Herald Banner – July 21, 2026
Giga Energy introduces proposed project near Royse City
The Hunt County Commissioners Court at last week’s regular session heard a presentation from Houston-based Giga Energy on a proposed data center development on County Road 2656 near Royse City. County officials said Giga Energy requested the meeting to introduce the project and answer questions from commissioners and the public. Speaking by Zoom from Houston, Brent Whitehead – co-founder and chief operating officer of Giga Energy – said the company develops, builds, owns and operates its own data centers rather than serving solely as an investment firm.
“Our goal is to build electrical infrastructure that helps modernize the electric grid,” Whitehead said. The proposed BT Gateway Data Center would occupy about 30 acres outside Royse City, with roughly 20 acres slated for development. Whitehead said the main building would cover about two acres and would process artificial intelligence computing workloads.
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The Wall Street Journal – July 21, 2026
Utilities Join Trump Pledge to Limit AI-Driven Increases in Electricity Bills*
The nation’s largest utilities and developers of data centers have signed on to President Trump’s pledge to pay more for the electricity needed to run artificial-intelligence models, hoping to quell a backlash that has fueled protests and political proposals to halt the AI boom. NextEra Energy, Duke Energy, Equinix and Digital Realty are among the nearly 200 entities committing to the president’s promise aimed at ensuring AI’s energy consumption doesn’t push up electric bills for consumers across the U.S., according to a White House list of signatories obtained by The Wall Street Journal. Trump is expected to announce the new commitments at a Thursday event at the Environmental Protection Agency, a White House official said. Republican governors including Louisiana’s Jeff Landry and Georgia’s Brian Kemp also signed the pledge and are expected to attend.
The new commitments mean that signatories now account for some 80% of all power delivered to U.S. homes and businesses, the official said. The pledges could prove difficult to enforce because power prices are often decided by state regulators and electricity buyers and sellers, but they represent the strongest effort by the White House and private sector to fight anger about AI. Rising electricity prices and opposition to new data centers have driven concerns among industry executives that more of the facilities that power models will have to move overseas, potentially challenging an engine of the economy. Chinese AI-model developers recently released tools that impressed Western investors and industry analysts, adding to an already frenetic industry competition.
“The president’s bold action is turning data centers into engines of growth for local communities, while cementing America’s dominance in the global AI race,” said White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers in a written statement. Last week, Trump criticized New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive order barring the construction of data centers for a year until regulatory and environmental frameworks are created. Trump called the order a “terrible decision” and said the taxes and jobs from data centers “amount to LIQUID GOLD.”
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Bloomberg – july 21, 2026
Data Centers on Track to Suck Up a Fifth of US Power Use by 2035*
Data centers in the US will account for about 20% of the nation’s electricity consumption in 2035, up from 5.9% today, according to BloombergNEF. That compares with an estimated 12% in 2030, it said in a report Tuesday. In states such as Virginia and Texas where data centers are concentrated, their share of electricity use will be even higher. Given the speed at which soaring demand from artificial intelligence is increasing, BNEF projects data center power needs to reach 194 gigawatts in the country by 2035. That’s a jump of 83% from its December forecast. The gain reflects a growing pipeline of AI facilities poised to be built within the next decade. One gigawatt is equivalent to the capacity of a traditional nuclear reactor.
Surging demand from AI data centers is already straining electric grids that are racing to provide enough energy to meet customer needs after two decades of stagnant load growth. That’s forcing companies led by data center operators to find new ways to power their huge campuses. At the same time, developers face obstacles such as permitting freezes imposed by local governments and political opposition over the projects’ growing energy needs and environmental impacts. “Every coal plant, every gas plant, every solar farm in the US — one unit of energy out of five generated by them is going to data centers,” said Lloyd Arnold, an analyst at BNEF and one of the authors of the report. “So that’s the same energy that’s going to be going into powering electric vehicles, powering cities, et cetera.”
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Dallas Morning News – July 21, 2026
BlackRock-backed group closes $40 billion deal for D-FW data center company*
A consortium backed by BlackRock and Abu Dhabi-based fund MGX has completed the $40 billion acquisition of North Texas-based Aligned Data Centers. The Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), MGX and BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners announced Tuesday that the group acquired 100% equity in the data center firm from private infrastructure funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management and its co-investment partners. The deal values Aligned at about $40 billion, which represents one of the largest data center deals ever.
After the closing, the consortium also committed $5 billion to fund Aligned’s continued expansion. The deal is AIP’s first investment, part of plans to deploy $30 billion of equity capital, with the potential of reaching $100 billion, including debt. Other members backing the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership include Microsoft and Nvidia. Plano-based Aligned Data Centers is one of the largest and fastest-growing data center developers in the world. The firm has 51 campuses and more than 6.4 gigawatts of operational and planned capacity. The company will keep its headquarters in the Dallas area. Aligned CEO Andrew Schaap and the existing team will continue to lead the firm. Schaap told The Dallas Morning News in October that the deal will allow Aligned to continue its growth in North Texas and expand into new markets. Aligned has 144 employees and four data centers in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Regulatory
RTO Insider – July 21, 2026
States Seek to Join Suit Against Federal Wind Power Freeze*
A coalition of 19 state attorneys general has officially moved to intervene in an ongoing federal lawsuit against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to challenge a nationwide freeze on land-based wind farm permits. The Pentagon effectively paused all routine reviews of onshore wind projects in August 2025, citing concerns that tall wind turbines could interfere with military radar and provide cover for modern drones
The legal coalition—including states like Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Colorado—argues that the DOD’s sudden refusal to complete routine, legally mandated safety reviews has indefinitely delayed over 100 wind projects. According to the attorneys general, the prolonged stall is arbitrary, violates the Administrative Procedure Act, and severely hinders state-level clean energy goals, tax revenue, and economic growth. The participating states seek to force the DOD to resume the review process, as developers allege the year-long standstill has frozen 44 gigawatts of potential capacity and cost the industry billions of dollars