Lead, 12 October 2026: Appeal board refuses Mayo Data Hub's Killala data centre, citing no grid agreement and the Climate Action Plan. 45 items this week across four desks, each linked to its source (An Coimisiún Pleanála case PL16.322575 (order signed 15 Sep 2026)).
Grid access shaped the data-centre news. Ireland's appeal board refused a data centre at Killala, Co. Mayo, for lack of a grid agreement and granted Google's Grange Castle expansion. In the US, FERC rejected PJM's plan to curtail new data centres that bring no capacity of their own, and Denmark's law putting most data centres last in the grid queue took effect.
An Coimisiún Pleanála refused permission for Mayo Data Hub Limited's data centre at Mullafarry and Tawnaghmore Upper, Killala (case PL16.322575, council ref. 2460708), overturning Mayo County Council's grant of 25 April 2025. The order, signed on 15 September 2026, says the applicant failed to show a fixed grid connection agreement, existing grid capacity, significant on-site renewables or engagement with Corporate PPAs, and so failed to show consistency with the Climate Action Plan 2025 and the Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres. The scheme was a single building of about 29,076 m² with 25 backup generators. The decision followed the inspector's recommendation; the third-party appeal had been lodged on 21 May 2025.
Why it matters. A refusal resting on grid and climate grounds rather than local planning: on this reading, a data centre without a grid agreement and a renewables route can't clear ACP, whatever the council decided. The Grange Castle grant in the same month leaned on an existing EirGrid connection.
Our data confirmsOur lifecycle dataset already records the refusal (finalOutcome refused, 15 Sep 2026). At 482 days from appeal to decision it sits just above our median data-centre appeal of 462 days (n=16)./data-centres →/councils/mayo →
482 days
appeal lodged (21 May 2025) to order signed (15 Sep 2026)
Why it matters. One of the few large Irish data-centre permissions since the CRU's new connection rules, and a test of how long appeals now take: Google says it already held a 2021 EirGrid connection.
Why it matters. The largest US grid market has lost, for now, its tool for rationing power to new data centres after they connect. European operators ration at the point of connection instead; PJM is left with price, and its last auction cleared at the cap.
Next, 22 October 2026: PJM special Members Committee on the backstop procurement; registry compliance filing due within 30 days of 9 Oct; 2029/30 auction in December
Why it matters. Denmark now ranks most data centres last by law in grid allocation, a direct answer to the grid-access question for one EU country and a model other grid-constrained countries can be measured against.
On 9 Oct FERC accepted PJM's definition of a Large Load (50 MW or more of peak at one site, affiliated loads within one mile counted together) and a Large Load Registry, effective 12 Oct. It rejected the rest of PJM's 13 Aug filing: the Interim Resource Adequacy Service, under which new large loads without matching new capacity could be curtailed from June 2027, the bring-your-own-new-capacity rules, and removing such loads from the capacity auction's demand curve. FERC found parts of the plan appear to regulate retail customers, outside its authority, and that PJM had not justified the rest, and it gave guidance for a refiling. PJM had told FERC it will be short of capacity from the 2027/28 delivery year, largely because of data-centre growth.
Why it matters. The largest US grid market has lost, for now, its tool for rationing power to new data centres after they connect. European operators ration at the point of connection instead; PJM is left with price, and its last auction cleared at the cap.
Our data addsPJM's 2028/29 capacity auction cleared at the $325/MW-day cap and 6,831 MW short of its reliability requirement (PJM, 14 Jul 2026). Our Europe restrictions table counts 10 connection rules among 32 measures (Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, Germany), the stage PJM's order leaves to US states./us/power-crunch →/europe/data-centre-restrictions →
50 MW
Large Load threshold (cumulative peak at one site)
Next, 22 October 2026: PJM special Members Committee on the backstop procurement; registry compliance filing due within 30 days of 9 Oct; 2029/30 auction in December
An Coimisiún Pleanála refused permission for Mayo Data Hub Limited's data centre at Mullafarry and Tawnaghmore Upper, Killala (case PL16.322575, council ref. 2460708), overturning Mayo County Council's grant of 25 April 2025. The order, signed on 15 September 2026, says the applicant failed to show a fixed grid connection agreement, existing grid capacity, significant on-site renewables or engagement with Corporate PPAs, and so failed to show consistency with the Climate Action Plan 2025 and the Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres. The scheme was a single building of about 29,076 m² with 25 backup generators. The decision followed the inspector's recommendation; the third-party appeal had been lodged on 21 May 2025.
Why it matters. A refusal resting on grid and climate grounds rather than local planning: on this reading, a data centre without a grid agreement and a renewables route can't clear ACP, whatever the council decided. The Grange Castle grant in the same month leaned on an existing EirGrid connection.
Our data confirmsOur lifecycle dataset already records the refusal (finalOutcome refused, 15 Sep 2026). At 482 days from appeal to decision it sits just above our median data-centre appeal of 462 days (n=16)./data-centres →/councils/mayo →
482 days
appeal lodged (21 May 2025) to order signed (15 Sep 2026)
On 6 Oct Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress filed a settlement on a large-load tariff with the North Carolina Utilities Commission (dockets E-7 Sub 1329, E-2 Sub 1380). Signatories include the Public Staff, Amazon Data Services, Google, Microsoft and the Defense Department. It covers loads of 50 MW+ at 80% load factor, or 150 MW+ at any load factor: customers prepay dedicated facilities, post letters of credit for network upgrades, commit for 10 or 15 years and pay at least 75% of contract demand. Exit notice runs 24 to 48 months by size. The Commission has yet to approve it; the tariff would apply from 1 Jan 2027.
Why it matters. Three days after FERC accepted Duke's wholesale terms, the retail side is being fixed by settlement with the buyers themselves. For Europe, it is a worked template of who pays for no-show loads, set in the tariff before connection.
75%
minimum billing demand as a share of contract demand
Samsung Electronics' preliminary guidance for July to September 2026, published on 8 October, puts consolidated sales at about KRW195tn and operating profit at about KRW107.4tn (ranges KRW194-196tn and KRW107.3-107.5tn). A year earlier the figures were KRW86.06tn and KRW12.17tn; in the second quarter of 2026, KRW171.5tn and KRW89.49tn. The guidance gives no breakdown by division. Separately, the Korea Economic Daily reported on 9 October, citing industry sources and relayed by DigiTimes, that Samsung has committed 75-80% of its 2027 memory supply, HBM included, to long-term agreements; Samsung has not confirmed this. Full results with the divisional split are due later in October (date not yet announced).
Why it matters. Operating profit above half of sales at the largest memory maker says buyers, not sellers, are short. With Micron's prepaid take-or-pay deals (9 Oct), memory looks like the price-setting constraint into 2027. Europe makes no HBM or leading DRAM, so its clusters buy from the same tight pool.
Our data addsOur supply-chain page rates memory the binding link in 2026. Samsung's guidance extends that evidence; the divisional split (memory vs devices) arrives with the full results./global/ai-supply-chain →
Micron's 10-K for the year to 3 September 2026, filed on 9 October, reports revenue of $133.2bn against $37.4bn a year earlier and $30.7bn spent on property, plant and equipment (2025: $15.9bn). Customers paid $12.75bn of deposits under new multi-year take-or-pay agreements with binding volumes; most carry price floors and caps. Micron expects capex net of government incentives of about $11.5bn in its first fiscal quarter and about $25bn in the first half of fiscal 2027, and higher in the second half. HBM4E is due to ramp in calendar 2027; a new Hiroshima cleanroom gives first output in late 2028.
Why it matters. Buyers are paying cash in advance to lock in memory volumes for years: supply, not demand, is setting the pace. Europe has no HBM or leading DRAM production, so European AI clusters draw on the same contracted supply.
Our data addsOur supply-chain page rates memory the binding link in 2026: Korea's chip exports up 263% y/y in September and Nvidia's supply commitments at $279bn, 'primarily memory'. Micron's prepaid take-or-pay deals extend that evidence. Its fiscal Q4 revenue is already in our supplier tracker from this 10-K./global/ai-supply-chain →/global/ai-supplier-revenue →
Constellation and Google signed a 20-year power purchase agreement on 6 Oct to fund 890 MW of uprates at 11 reactors on six sites in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey (over $4.3bn of Constellation investment, first uprate by 2028), plus a 15-year supply deal for 2,700 MW of existing PJM output. On 5 Oct DOE offered Vistra a conditional loan of up to $4.2bn for uprates adding 433 MW at Beaver Valley, Davis-Besse and Perry; Power Engineering reports that capacity is part of Vistra's 20-year PPAs with Meta. On 30 Sep Constellation and Amazon announced a 20-year PPA tied to a 190 MW expansion of Calvert Cliffs, due 2030-2032 (Utility Dive).
Why it matters. Uprates add firm power inside existing grid connections, the scarcest input in PJM. Contracts with Google, Meta and Amazon and a federal loan offer now back about 1.5 GW of new nuclear output in PJM, from 2028 on.
Our data addsPJM's 2028/29 auction cleared 524.7 MW (UCAP) of new generation and uprates (PJM, 14 Jul 2026). These uprates total about 1,513 MW nameplate, due 2028-2034: not like for like, but roughly three times what the last auction drew./us/power-crunch →
Black Hills Corp. said on 6 Oct (8-K) it has signed agreements, effective 30 Sep and running to 2048, to serve a planned Google data centre in Cheyenne, Wyoming. A non-regulated affiliate will build 564 MW (nameplate) of new gas generation at its Cheyenne Prairie station for $1.8bn over 2027-2029, giving up to 590 MW of grid-connected service with market purchases. Black Hills will also manage about 2.1 GW of third-party Wyoming resources through a private microgrid under its Large Power Contract Service tariff: 2.7 GW in all with reserves. Service starts in late 2027 and reaches peak load in 2030. The company says Google bears all costs of serving the site, and that Google has advanced $399m, refundable, for long-lead equipment.
Why it matters. A utility building dedicated gas and a private microgrid for one customer, who pays all costs, is one way US data centres get around grid queues. Ireland's 2025 rules also make data centres bring their own dispatchable generation; Wyoming shows the scale that model reaches in the US.
New to our dataNot yet in our US campus table, which lists 9 gas-backed campuses (20.4 GW announced), including Project Jade (Tallgrass/Crusoe, 1,150 MW) in the same county. Ireland's CRU connection policy (Dec 2025) requires new data centres to bring dispatchable generation or storage./us/power-crunch →/europe/data-centre-restrictions →
564 MW
new gas generation (nameplate) at Cheyenne Prairie
Greece's environment and energy ministry has presented a bill on connecting data centres to the grid, Balkan Green Energy News reported on 12 Oct. Sites above 10 MW would go to the transmission operator IPTO (ADMIE), smaller ones to HEDNO, with no splitting of projects. Investors would post €200,000 per MW in guarantees for a three-year connection offer, and at least 60% of consumption would have to be renewable. Sites above 200 MW could get priority if 80% of their power comes from a nearby generator or six-hour storage. IPTO's data-centre connection requests rose from 5 GW to 9 GW in two months this summer, the outlet says.
Why it matters. A new national allocation rule. It prices queue positions (€200,000/MW) instead of ranking data centres last as Denmark does: the same queue problem, solved differently.
New to our dataOur grid-queue table has no Greek row; the 9 GW of IPTO requests would be its first figure for Greece./europe/data-centre-grid-queues →
Denmark's parliament adopted the emergency plan for the electricity grid (akutplan for elnettet) on 1 Oct, according to the climate and energy ministry. It replaces first-come, first-served with four priority categories; data centres whose main purpose is data processing are in category 4, last, and can be refused if capacity is short, while those tied to critical societal functions go in category 1. Projects of 3 MW or more are handled in pools at least twice a year. The act (no. 866 of 7 October 2026) took effect on 12 October, its section 3 states; it leaves the queue order to ministerial rules.
Why it matters. Denmark now ranks most data centres last by law in grid allocation, a direct answer to the grid-access question for one EU country and a model other grid-constrained countries can be measured against.
An Coimisiún Pleanála granted Google Ireland Limited ten-year permission, with conditions, for a data storage facility at Grange Castle Business Park South, Dublin 22 (council ref. SD24A/0164W, case PL06S.320852). The order was signed on 23 September 2026; Google's appeal against South Dublin County Council's 2024 refusal was lodged on 18 September 2024. The Echo reports a 72,400 m² building with eight data halls, about 800 construction jobs and about 50 permanent jobs.
Why it matters. One of the few large Irish data-centre permissions since the CRU's new connection rules, and a test of how long appeals now take: Google says it already held a 2021 EirGrid connection.
Our data addsOur planning data puts the median data-centre appeal at 462 days from lodging to decision (16 decided appeals; three in four under 665 days). At 735 days this one sits beyond that range./data-centres →
A Spartanburg County, SC judge dismissed residents' challenge to Valara Holdings' $2.8bn data centre on 6 Oct for lack of standing and a skipped administrative appeal, without ruling on the merits; the group says it will appeal (FOX Carolina). In Colleton County, SC, a settlement with SELC's clients creates a Data Center Exclusion Area over most of the county's ACE Basin (Live 5, 5 Oct). On 8 Oct Quantum Maryland sued Frederick County, MD and County Executive Jessica Fitzwater, alleging her freeze on data-centre applications was political; she calls the claims false (WBFF).
Why it matters. Courts are now deciding where US campuses go as often as zoning boards are: one challenge failed on procedure, one ended in a mapped no-build zone, and a developer is testing whether a local freeze can be undone in court.
$2.8bn
Valara Holdings' Spartanburg County data-centre investment
Walloon infrastructure minister François Desquesnes refused Google's request to pump up to 600 m³ an hour from the Sambre to cool a merged, larger second building at its Farciennes (Écopôle) campus, citing drought risk and higher-priority uses including cooling at the Tihange nuclear plant, after an appeal by citizen groups (L'Avenir, 7 Oct). The refusal came this summer; its exact date is unchecked. Google says it is reviewing the decision and can appeal to the Conseil d'État within 60 days of notification (L'Avenir). Canopea (5 Oct) reports the site must now use air cooling, and that Google has also filed for two more hyperscale buildings at Saint-Ghislain and one larger building at Feluy.
Why it matters. A first water-based limit on a hyperscale campus in Belgium, where Elia already caps data-centre grid allocation: the constraint here is water, not power. It shows how a regional permit can reshape a design that is already under way.
Our data addsOur restrictions tracker lists Elia's capped data-centre grid category (from 5 Sep 2025) but no water measure for Belgium./europe →
SpaceX, which merged with xAI earlier this year, is seeking about $40bn of debt financing to pay for an order of Nvidia AI chips, the Financial Times reported on 6 October; Reuters relayed the report citing sources, and investingLive reported that Apollo is leading the package. SpaceX has made no filing on it with the SEC as of 12 October (latest 8-K 14 August). Terms, lenders beyond Apollo, and whether the chips serve as collateral were not confirmed.
Why it matters. At $40bn this would be among the largest single debt raises for AI hardware, and it shows private credit, not only hyperscaler cash flow, funding frontier compute. No European lab or neocloud raises debt at anything like this scale.
Our data addsOur GPU-finance tracker already holds xAI's 12.5% secured notes (repaid March 2026 after the merger, per SpaceX's Q2 10-Q). A $40bn package would be the largest entry if it closes./global/gpu-finance →
40 US$bn
debt sought by SpaceX for Nvidia chips (as reported)
Singapore-based DayOne Data Centers filed an F-1 on 5 October for a Nasdaq listing (ticker DODC, no price range yet). At 20 September it had 962 MW of IT capacity in service, 789 MW of it in Johor, and 1,328 MW under construction, 99.3% pre-committed, including 281 MW at Lahti and Kouvola in Finland; it also holds 304 MW of powered land in Zaragoza, Spain. First-half 2026 revenue rose 238% to $512m; debt was $4.9bn at 30 June. One customer, described as a global technology company with a leading short-form video platform, provided 69.2% of first-half revenue. Separately, PLDT said its VITRO data-centre REIT deferred its IPO to 2027, citing market conditions and rising interest rates.
Why it matters. The filing shows how Asia's fastest build is paid for: debt, preferred equity and one dominant customer. It also brings an Asian operator into European capacity: 281 MW being built in Finland for an existing hyperscale customer, and powered land in Spain.
Updates our dataEpoch AI's timelines, used on our power pages, show DayOne's two Johor campuses at 1,252 MW and fully built by early October 2026. DayOne's own filing reports 789 MW of IT capacity in service and 616 MW more under construction in Johor. The two may measure different things (IT load or facility power); to be checked./global/where-ai-can-plug-in →
GlobalFoundries said on 8 October it had reached a multi-year agreement, worth $2bn on its own figure, to manufacture silicon interposers as a service for TSMC's CoWoS advanced-packaging ecosystem at its Malta, New York site, where it will add fabrication capacity. Volume production is expected to begin ramping in the first half of 2028; the initial term is five years, with a framework for later expansion. No capacity figure was given. The interposer is the silicon base on which a GPU die and its HBM memory are joined in a CoWoS package.
Why it matters. CoWoS packaging capped Nvidia's output in 2023-24; this adds a US source for one of its inputs, but not before 2028. Our supply-chain page finds no CoWoS-class packaging in Europe; this deal adds American capacity, not European.
Our data addsOur supply-chain page rates packaging 'easing': TrendForce (5 Aug 2026) has TSMC's monthly CoWoS capacity roughly doubling from 2025 to end-2026, with demand still about 20% above supply in 2026. A 2028 start does not change the 2026-27 picture./global/ai-supply-chain →
2 US$bn
value of the multi-year interposer agreement (GF's figure)
TSMC reported consolidated revenue of NT$511.86bn for September 2026, 0.6% below August and 54.6% above September 2025 (6-K and TWSE filing, 8 October). Revenue for January to September was NT$3,898.73bn, up 41.1%. The three monthly reports add up to about NT$1,494bn for the third quarter, about 51% more than a year earlier (our sum of TSMC's figures). TSMC's third-quarter earnings conference is on 15 October at 14:00 Taiwan time.
Why it matters. TSMC makes the logic dies for most AI accelerators and packages many of them in CoWoS, so its monthly sales are the earliest hard reading of how fast AI chips ship. Europe has no leading-edge logic fab.
Our data confirmsAlready in our Taiwan tracker (pulled 11 Oct): TSMC's Q3 sum NT$1,494.2bn, +50.9% y/y. The five Taiwanese server makers we track reported NT$2,026.5bn for September, +54.3% y/y. ASE, Alchip and Delta Electronics had not yet reported September when we pulled./global/taiwan-ai-supply-chain-monthly →
Loudoun County's Board of Supervisors took no action on 6 Oct on ending the 2025 grandfathering that lets some data-centre projects proceed through staff review without a Board vote, after the county attorney warned it could cost $60m in litigation; the chair tabled the item, and a motion to hire an outside auditor, for a later meeting (FOX 5 DC). The county counts at least 17 grandfathered cases totalling more than 11 million sq ft, which its 15 Sep pause does not touch. That pause, passed 7-1-1, defers Board action on legislative data-centre and substation applications during the Phase 2 rules review, within Virginia's 12-month limit; staff bring the formal resolution on 20 Oct (county statement, 16 Sep).
Why it matters. In Loudoun, the core of Northern Virginia's Data Center Alley, the pause slows new rezonings while grandfathered projects keep moving. The legal cost of reversing past approvals sets how fast a county can brake.
Memphis City Council narrowly voted on 6 Oct to put off its final vote on a moratorium on new data centres until 20 Oct, after protests halted the meeting (WMC/Gray News; Commercial Appeal). On 9 Oct Mayor Paul Young issued an executive order for a 90-day study recommending rules for hyperscale data centres on land use, neighbourhood protections, air quality and energy and utility costs, with at least three public sessions; it does not impose a moratorium (Commercial Appeal). The Shelby County Commission is to take a first vote on a moratorium of its own (Daily Memphian, 11 Oct; date not given). xAI's Colossus sites are in the Memphis area.
Why it matters. Memphis is home to xAI's Colossus 1, in our US campus table. The 20 Oct vote shows whether local opposition can slow growth at an established AI cluster, not only stop new sites.
Our data addsOur US campus table lists xAI Colossus 1 (Memphis, 247 MW of permitted turbines, Shelby County Health Department, Jul 2025) and the Colossus 2 plant at Southaven, Mississippi (1,200 MW)./us/power-crunch →
Manatee County, Florida, adopted a 12-month stop on new data-centre applications in unincorporated areas on 8 Oct (Ordinance 26-42) while it writes rules; Florida's new law defines a large-scale data centre as 50 MW or more of monthly peak load (Bradenton Times). Lexington-Fayette's council voted 11-0 on 8 Oct to extend its moratorium to 31 Oct 2027 (WUKY). San Francisco supervisors unanimously passed a 45-day moratorium on 6 Oct; Oakland and Los Angeles County are weighing similar steps (KTVU). Not every pause holds: on 6 Oct a Missouri circuit court enjoined Benton County's August moratorium, finding it rested on no findings that data centres harm health, in a suit by developer NSI 6 over a 12-acre site in Warsaw (KMMO).
Why it matters. Local land-use pauses keep spreading in the US, now including the Bay Area, and courts are starting to test them. Europe's brakes are mostly grid-connection rules: our restrictions table has no active local moratorium.
Our data addsOur Europe restrictions table (32 measures, 11 Oct) has 5 moratoriums, none active (3 proposed, 1 lifted, 1 replaced), against 10 connection rules. We do not yet count US local moratoriums./europe/data-centre-restrictions →
On 9 Oct FERC accepted Duke Energy Carolinas' revised network transmission service agreement, effective 1 Aug 2026. Wholesale customers adding or moving 100 MW or more of load must commit for 15 years and pay a shortfall charge if their use falls below 75% of the scheduled MW, so that grid upgrades built for a load that never arrives are not paid for by others. Duke told FERC it applies the same 100 MW threshold and 15-year term to retail customers, and that nine requests for new large loads of 102 MW to 945 MW have reached it since 2012. Two commissioners concurred separately; Commissioner Chang dissented, saying the 15-year commitment is backed by little security, about one to five months of transmission revenue.
Why it matters. Who carries the risk of a data centre that never shows up is being settled tariff by tariff. FERC accepted a 15-year minimum-payment model for wholesale customers, with a dissent on how little security backs it.
Varde's municipal council approved the local plan and municipal-plan supplement for a data centre and greenhouse project at Krageris, north of Ølgod, on 6 October, Version2 reported, citing TV Syd. Venstre, the Social Democrats, the Conservatives, Liberal Alliance and the Danish People's Party voted for it; three parties voted against. atNorth is the main developer, with Selected Group to build and run greenhouses heated by the data centre's surplus heat. Version2 gives 174 hectares, with 225,000 m² for the data centre; atNorth's site page lists 500 MW of campus power capacity, 250 MW initially. Residents protested outside the town hall. A four-week complaint period follows publication of the plans; construction is expected to finish in 2030.
Why it matters. A local permit for one of Denmark's largest announced campuses, granted days before the national grid-priority law put large data centres last in the connection queue. Whether the site has a grid agreement was not reported.
Our data addsDenmark's 26 data centres reporting under the EU scheme had 319 MW of IT capacity in 2025 (campus power and IT load are not like for like). Energinet counted 14 GW of data-centre transmission requests in January 2026. Microsoft has also announced a West Denmark region around Varde and Esbjerg (not built)./europe/data-centre-capacity →/europe/data-centre-grid-queues →/europe/countries/denmark →
Finland's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is preparing a priority procedure for grid connections that would replace first come, first served with four classes, Yle reported on 10 October: households and smaller firms first, larger industry and smaller data centres second, large data centres and large industrial sites third, storage fourth. A data centre bringing at least 1 MW of flexible generation (by contract, or its own gas or diesel plant) could move up to class two; other industry needs 3 MW. Fingrid, the transmission operator, called the draft well prepared in its consultation response on 9 October, but asked that only capacity backed by grid investment decisions be allocated, that splitting connections must not get round the procedure, and that the flexibility commitment be revised.
Why it matters. Fingrid's service shows no free capacity for new connections in southern Finland. Classes would decide which data-centre projects connect first, and could reward sites that add flexible generation, which can mean gas or diesel engines. Yle says the model draws on Denmark and Ireland.
The CNMC's report on the draft royal decree for data centres (IPN/CNMC/038/26, dated 22 September) backs conditions on new sites but asks for changes. The draft requires each hour's consumption to be at least 80% matched by renewable output, and 80% of annual use to come from new Spanish renewables commissioned no earlier than 18 months before the site opens; persistent shortfalls could cost a site its grid permits. The CNMC says hours with renewable surpluses or prices of €20/MWh or less could count as met, the new-renewables rule could start lower or phase in to 2030, flexibility should count, and projects already holding grid permits need more than the six months the draft gives them. It notes almost 600 hours of negative day-ahead prices in the first half of 2026.
Why it matters. Spain has granted data centres 6.3 GW of transmission access, none yet connected. Ireland already requires 80% additional renewables on an annual basis; Spain's draft adds hourly matching, so how far the final text bends decides how much of that pipeline gets built.
Our data addsOur energy-rules table carries the draft's 80% hourly rule from a secondary source (pv magazine); the CNMC report now confirms the terms. Red Eléctrica: 6,329 MW of transmission access granted to data centres, none in service (1 Oct). Spain's 38 data centres reporting under the EU scheme had 103 MW of IT capacity (2024)./europe/data-centre-energy-rules →/europe/data-centre-grid-queues →/europe/countries/spain →
80%
share of each hour's consumption to be matched by renewables (draft)
A planning application to Wokingham Borough Council proposes a data centre of up to 72 MW IT (about 110 MW peak demand) at Thames Valley Park, Earley, replacing three office buildings, Data Centre Review reported on 5 Oct. Only 1.8 MW of grid capacity is available; a 60 MVA connection from SSEN is secured but the reinforcement is not expected until 2037. Phase one would run on 49.9 MW of natural-gas solid-oxide fuel cells, with operation from 2031. Silicon UK notes the site is that of Microsoft's UK headquarters; the developer is not named.
Why it matters. A concrete GB case of a 2037 grid date forcing on-site gas. It shows grid queues pushing data centres to their own power rather than stopping them.
Our data addsOur GB row: about 73 GW of data-centre demand in contracted connection offers (June 2025)./europe/data-centre-grid-queues →
At Étrechet, near Châteauroux (Indre), a Google data-centre project of about 200 hectares and 500 MW to 1.1 GW would need a new 400 kV RTE line, franceinfo reported on 6 Oct. Four councillors resigned on 14 Sep and the mayor the next day; six elected officials have now left, citing a lack of transparency. Google says the project is at an early stage, with construction expected from 2027. The national public-debate commission (CNDP) holds a non-binding debate in November.
Why it matters. It would be Google's first French data centre, on one of the 55 government "turnkey" sites. Local resistance on a state-backed site tests whether France's fast-track list moves projects or only relocates fights.
Our data addsRTE had reserved nearly 18 GW for about 80 data-centre projects by May 2026 (our grid-queue table); this site would add up to 1.1 GW of demand./europe/data-centre-grid-queues →
The Scottish Parliament's Climate Action Committee has opened an inquiry into the environmental impacts of hyperscale data centres, with the Economy, Tourism and Energy Committee; the call for views closes 15 Nov 2026. The committee notes there are no hyperscale data centres in Scotland at the outset. In an 8 Oct letter, Hannah Mary Goodlad, Minister for Public Finance, replying as the minister responsible for planning, confirmed national planning guidance on data centres will be published before Christmas 2026, with a wider strategic approach in 2026-27. Data Centre Review, citing NESO, says close to 30 projects seek about 9.7 GW of grid connections in Scotland.
Why it matters. Scotland has an effective pause: the First Minister said no applications are expected to be determined before the guidance. The guidance date now sets when Scotland's queue of about 9.7 GW starts to move or stall.
Our data addsOur GB row counts about 73 GW of data-centre demand in contracted connection offers (June 2025); Scotland is not split out./europe/data-centre-grid-queues →
“As of the outset of this inquiry, there are no hyperscale data centres in Scotland.”
9.7 GW
grid connections sought by ~30 Scottish data-centre projects (NESO, via DCR)
Finland's Licensing and Supervision Agency (LVV) ordered Tuike Finland, a company representing Google, to stop tree felling, excavation and other land-altering work at its Muhos and Kajaani sites until environmental impact assessments are done, by 23 October at the latest, and to explain its plans by 14 October, Euronews reported. The agency is examining whether hundreds of hectares were cleared without a mandatory assessment. Google said it had fallen short of its own standards and would follow the agency's guidance. The sites are part of a programme of at least €13 billion over 2027–2028 that Google announced on 9 September 2026.
Why it matters. Environmental assessment, not grid, is the brake here: a regulator stopping site works on one of Europe's largest announced data-centre investments.
€13bn
Google's announced Finland investment (9 Sep 2026)
Waterford City and County Council is due to decide by 19 October 2026 on a 108.79-hectare scheme at the former cheese factory site in Kilmeaden (ref. 2560625): a village centre, technology park and renewable energy development, which WLR reported in 2025 includes a data centre and a 40 MW solar farm. The council requested further information in October 2025 and received it on 9 March 2026, according to the planning register. Residents opposed to the data centre planned a convoy protest into Waterford city on 10 October, according to the campaign outlet REBEL News.
Why it matters. A large scheme outside Dublin with a data centre, a 40 MW solar farm and organised local opposition: an early test of where in Ireland new campuses can go.
Kildare County Council voted 11 in favour and 22 against, with 7 abstentions, on motions to review the 'P – Data Centre' zoning of land at Jigginstown/Maudlins, Naas, and to vary the county development plan, the Kildare Nationalist reported. The vote was on 28 September. Councillors who opposed the motions said the zoning had been through public consultation and that objections belong in the planning process. Microsoft said in 2023 it was at an early stage of planning a campus on the land; no planning application has been submitted, the paper said.
Why it matters. Data-centre-only zoning near Naas stays in place, so the fight moves to any planning application on the site.
Developers withdrew the rezoning application for a 2.5m sq ft, eight-building data-centre campus in north-east Brighton, CO, and on 6 Oct the city council gave initial approval to a one-year moratorium on new data centres while it writes rules (Denver7, CPR). The city says it has no sign the plan will be resubmitted. In North Carolina, Beaufort County commissioners voted 6-1 on 5 Oct for a one-year moratorium on accepting or approving data-centre applications, although none is proposed there (WITN).
Why it matters. Pre-emptive pauses keep spreading to places with no live project, and in Brighton the backlash ended a campus before any vote. The US count of local pauses is now a running number to set against Europe's national restrictions.
Generalitat spokesperson and minister Sílvia Paneque asked the Spanish government to approve Red Eléctrica's transmission planning through the Diputación Permanente before the 29 November general election, so that it guarantees connection points for projects including the AI gigafactory at Móra la Nova (Tarragona), desalination plants and new industrial substations (El Periódico de la Energía, 9 Oct, citing Europa Press). The government has begun bilateral meetings with the regions; some are still pending. The article gives no MW figures.
Why it matters. Spain's grid plan sets where new large loads can connect. The election could delay it at the same time as the data-centre royal decree, so both of Spain's grid-access rules for data centres hang on the calendar.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court has allowed Vizag Hyperscale Data Centre Park Limited, a special purpose vehicle of Adani Infra (India), to continue building the AI data-centre campus at Visakhapatnam, part of Google's India AI hub, while a public interest litigation challenges its approvals, W.Media reported on 9 October; the report does not give the order's date. The court said any investment is at the developer's own risk and cannot ground relief if the approvals are later found improper. Three petitions before the National Green Tribunal argue that the environmental and water assessment was inadequate and that, with the site under a kilometre from the Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary, approval should have come from the central government.
Why it matters. One of the largest AI campuses announced in Asia can keep building, but its approvals are contested in two forums; if they fail, the money already spent is at the developer's risk.
New to our dataNot in our data: Epoch AI's frontier data-centre timelines (93 sites at 11 Oct), which feed our power pages, list no site in India./global/where-ai-can-plug-in →
Singapore's Parliament passed the Digital Infrastructure Bill on 7 October, W.Media reported the next day. Data centres with at least 3 MW of critical IT load will need a licence; major co-location and cloud data centres of 10 MW and up, and major cloud providers earning on average S$100m a year from Singapore users over three years, are covered as well. The law's aims include resilience, security and the environmental sustainability of data-centre operations. The regulator is IMDA. Details are still being worked out and will come in subsidiary legislation and codes of practice. On the same day the Economic Development Board said Singapore will expand data-centre capacity by at least one-third.
Why it matters. Singapore, which allocates scarce power and land to data centres, now licenses them directly, with rules to follow by regulation. The EU's nearest equivalent is a reporting duty from 500 kW of IT load, not a licence.
New to our dataOur Europe energy-rules tracker lists the EU's reporting duty for data centres of 500 kW IT and up (Energy Efficiency Directive Art. 12; Delegated Regulation 2024/1364). Singapore is not in our rules data./europe/data-centre-energy-rules →
A third-party broker charged in March alongside Super Micro co-founder Yih-Shyan 'Wally' Liaw and a sales manager, over servers with Nvidia AI chips diverted to China, has pleaded guilty under an agreement with prosecutors, according to newly unsealed court documents reported by Bloomberg and Reuters on 9 October. Prosecutors put the scheme's sales at about $2.5bn since 2024. Sentencing is set for 8 September 2027. Liaw has pleaded not guilty and goes to trial on 2 November; the third defendant remains at large. Super Micro is not a defendant and says it has cooperated with US and Taiwanese authorities.
Why it matters. The last US export rule on advanced computing in our tracker dates from 14 July; since then the action has been in court. The trial will show how restricted servers were routed to China through Southeast Asia.
Our data addsOur export-controls tracker counts two US rules on advanced computing in the last 12 months, the latest on 14 July 2026 (UAE). Prosecutions are not counted there./global/ai-supply-chain →
2.5 US$bn
sales in the alleged diversion scheme since 2024 (prosecutors' figure, as reported)
The US International Trade Commission instituted investigation 337-TA-1526 on 9 October on Vicor Corporation's claim that certain vertical power delivery systems, their components and computing systems containing them infringe US patent 10,903,734, Hon Hai (Foxconn) told the Taiwan Stock Exchange on 11 October. Vicor's complaint, filed 9 September, names Delta Electronics, Infineon Technologies, Luxshare, Monolithic Power Systems, Flex, Celestica, Quanta, and Foxconn with its units, and asks for a limited exclusion order and cease-and-desist orders. Foxconn says there has been no material effect on production, shipments or customers; its listed unit FII says the products concerned are still in internal validation.
Why it matters. Vertical power delivery feeds the highest-power AI accelerators. If an exclusion order followed, named respondents' infringing products could be barred from US import; the case is at its first step and nothing has been found. Germany's Infineon is a respondent.
The Alabama Public Service Commission voted on 6 Oct to adopt procedures for reviewing Alabama Power's contracts with large data centres covered by Act 2026-610, those of 150 MW or more (SELC). Commissioners must vote on each contract within 90 days, but a contract is deemed approved if they do not; July's draft had a 60-day deemed approval. Alabama Power files a public summary naming the customer, location and maximum contracted capacity, and a confidential package with the full contract and a cost-revenue analysis, including a Rate Impact Measure test, for PSC staff and the Attorney General. There is no public hearing or intervention in individual reviews (WBMA).
Why it matters. Who pays for data-centre power is being settled state by state. Alabama chose a fast, mostly confidential review; Duke's FERC-accepted terms rely on 15-year minimum payments instead.
The Commission adopted a delegated regulation (C(2026)3472) on 21 September setting up a common EU rating scheme for data centres with more than 500 kW of capacity, based on the energy and water data they report under the Energy Efficiency Directive. It also covers waste-heat reuse, new clean generation and flexibility. Parliament and Council have two months to object but cannot amend it. The Commission expects the first labels in 2027 and a review by end-2028. The same package opened a consultation on minimum performance standards for data centres, open until 14 December. Citing the IEA, the Commission puts EU data-centre electricity use at about 68 TWh in 2024, heading for 114 TWh by 2030.
Why it matters. The label turns the EU's reporting database into public grades for each site. Spain's regulator wants its draft decree's efficiency limits aligned with it, and the minimum-standards consultation is the step from grading sites towards limits.
Our data confirmsOur energy-rules table holds the adopted classes: PUE A is 1.15 or below and G above 1.9; WUE A is 0.1 or below. Labels are generated each year from 15 Aug 2027 and are valid for one year (C(2026)3472, read 11 Oct)./europe/data-centre-energy-rules →
Next: End of the two-month Parliament and Council scrutiny (about 21 Nov if counted from adoption; estimate), then Official Journal publication; minimum-standards consultation closes 14 Dec
A change notice on TED (674672-2026, published 1 October) moves the deadline for bids in EuroHPC's call for AI gigafactory consortia (EUROHPC/2026/OP/0008) from 12 November to 3 December 2026, 17:00 CET, with requests for information due by 25 November. The stated reason is a request from the European Commission. The call seeks up to seven consortia: four medium-scale (lot 1, estimated at €4bn) and three large-scale (lot 2, €6bn), €10bn in estimated value. EuroHPC's call page shows the new date; its 30 July launch release still gave 12 November when checked on 11 October.
Why it matters. AI gigafactories are the EU's main public bet on frontier-scale compute against the US build-out. Three more weeks gives national consortia time to line up sites, power and money; EuroHPC plans selection in early 2027.
Our data confirmsOur gigafactory tracker records both notices (529135-2026 original, 674672-2026 change), two French consortia that have announced bids (AION, AETHER) and two reported expressions of interest (Deutsche Telekom with Brookfield; a Portuguese group), against 76 expressions of interest in 2025./europe/ai-gigafactories →
€10bn
estimated value of the call (lot 1 €4bn, lot 2 €6bn)
Ofgem on 7 Oct proposed that demand, generation and storage customers may build all sole-use assets from their connection point to the existing transmission system (lines, project substations) and transfer them to the transmission owner, dropping today's limit of sites within 2 km. The consultation, under the Connect strand of its demand connections reform, closes 13 Nov 2026. The same day Ofgem rejected the industry modifications CMP330 and CMP374 on the 2 km limit.
Why it matters. Would let large loads such as data centres speed up their own connection works instead of waiting for the network owner. It is a proposal, not yet a rule, and follows the data-centre connections consultation that closed on 17 Sep.
Drax told Montel it is focusing on a 0.6 GW data-centre development at its biomass power station site in the short and medium term; earlier plans were for up to 1.2 GW, which is now only a possibility (Montel, 9 Oct). The Yorkshire Post reported on 9 Oct that officials confirmed the York and North Yorkshire AI Growth Zone bid, which centred on Drax, was rejected, while Drax's data-centre plan proceeds.
Why it matters. A large UK campus scaled back by half, and a government programme passing over a region: both are stall signals, reported as readily as the announcements.
The Oireachtas climate, environment and energy committee heard that renewable electricity added over the past decade has been cannibalised by data centres, in testimony including Trócaire's Sinéad Loughran, the Irish Examiner reported on 7 October. The SEAI projects Ireland will overshoot its 2030 final energy consumption target, a cut of at least 11.7%, by roughly 24% to 30%. In the same week the Oireachtas AI committee was due to hear the opposite case, that data centres are 'supercharging' Irish businesses.
Why it matters. Two parliamentary committees heard opposite cases in one week; the SEAI's projected overshoot of the 2030 energy target is the number both sides will cite.
Our data confirmsOur power pages track data centres' share of Irish metered electricity from the CSO, the series behind this argument./power →
“cannibalised by data centres”
24–30%
SEAI projected overshoot of the 2030 final energy target
WBS Power 3, linked to the renewables developer WBS Power, has withdrawn from buying a plot in Trzebnica, Lower Silesia, where it planned a data centre with a 1.6 GW grid connection, the local paper NOWagazeta.pl reported on 2 October; a land-register entry of 3 September deletes the purchase claim. The seller's president said the distribution operator Tauron had not guaranteed enough power. Neither WBS Power, Tauron nor the town has confirmed that reason. The town's change to its local plan, begun in January, is still under way; a councillor has asked whether it should continue. BeBeez republished DatacenterDynamics' report on 9 October.
Why it matters. A gigawatt-scale request that a regional distribution grid reportedly could not serve: Polish grids face the same mismatch as western Europe's, and our grid-queue table has no Polish row yet.
New to our dataPoland's 44 data centres reporting under the EU scheme had 124 MW of IT capacity in 2025; the 1.6 GW was a grid-connection request, not IT load, so not like for like. Our grid-queue and restrictions tables have no Polish rows yet./europe/data-centre-grid-queues →/europe/countries/poland →
1,600 MW
grid connection in the developer's application, as cited by a councillor
The amendment to Denmark's Electricity Supply Act (Act no. 866 of 7 October 2026, published in the Lovtidende on 8 October) takes effect on 12 October, its section 3 states. The act does not itself list priority categories: it empowers the climate, energy and utilities minister to set rules on how grid companies prioritise connection requests, including grid-friendliness, what applicants must document, how allocated capacity is used and when requests can be refused. The four categories, with certain large consumers such as data centres last, come from the June political agreement and the ministry's statements.
Why it matters. It confirms the change at the primary source and shows where the detail sits: the minister, not parliament, sets and can change the queue order and the grid-friendliness test, so how data centres fare depends on executive orders.
Our data confirmsOur restrictions table has this law (dk-emergency-grid-law) on a secondary source; Act no. 866 confirms the 12 October start. Energinet counted 14 GW of data-centre transmission requests in January 2026, against about 7 GW of national peak demand./europe/data-centre-restrictions →/europe/data-centre-grid-queues →
Next: Executive orders setting the categories and grid-friendliness criteria; first prioritisation rounds by Energinet and the grid companies (no date set)
French AI infrastructure firm Sesterce plans a $10 billion data-centre campus at the former Kaipola paper mill in Jämsä, Finland: 200 MW in a first phase rising to 600 MW, with work due to start in 2026, Konsulteer reported on 9 October, citing DatacenterDynamics. The company says it will use the existing grid and enable 1 MW of new renewable generation for each MW consumed within ten years of operation. No permit or grid-connection status was reported.
Why it matters. Finland is drawing gigawatt-scale AI campuses to former industrial sites with grid capacity; this one has no reported permit or grid status yet.
Poste Italiane chief executive Matteo Del Fante said Italy's bid for an EU AI gigafactory had nearly been lost three months ago and was revived with TIM, Eni and Leonardo, Adnkronos reported on 7 October. The equity and a new company are still being negotiated. The main site discussed is an Eni data centre near Pavia; a Milan-area site at the former Falck works in Sesto San Giovanni is also being considered. The EuroHPC call closes on 3 December 2026.
Why it matters. AI gigafactories are the EU's flagship answer on compute; whether Italy can field a consortium shows how much of it is real by the 3 December deadline.
Selective by design: a fixed daily budget, spent where past runs found what mattered. Editorial judgement
Why we track this. Measure what Europe is actually building in AI, so it builds faster and wastes less. Show where the build stalls (grid queues, permits, money flowing to US vendors, rules that block more than build), starting with Ireland's data-centre power gap.
Only checked factsEvery item links to its source and carries a date. Where a primary source exists (the planning file, the regulator's decision, the filing), we cite it, not the coverage.
Measure honestlyBad news for Ireland and Europe is reported as readily as good. We test the counter-argument (sovereignty as expensive protectionism) rather than assume it away.
NeutralCompanies are measured alike, every hyperscaler included. No lobbying, no recommendations to governments, no calls to action.
Events, not opinionsDecisions, filings, permits, money, power and rules. Commentary only when it moves one of those.
Anchored in our dataEach item says why it matters for one of the site's questions, and what our own data says about it where we have any.
Open methodThe scan, its budget, what it learned and which sources it trusts are published on the page.
Where it looks now
171 news sources and 314 watched pages (267 of them the primary sources behind this site's own datasets). 10 daily runs so far: 471 lines scored, 45 kept. Each source's score is the share of its recent checks that found something worth keeping; the scan spends most of its fixed daily budget at the top of this list and a few slots on the least-known sources. Each watched page learns how often it really changes.
Source
Desk
Score
Checks
Kept
Google News: county rezonings, permits and moratoriums
US
75%
1
6
Google News: Irish data-centre planning and appeals
W.Media (Asia-Pacific, Middle East and LatAm data-centre trade)
World
75%
1
1
Irish planning files (planningregister.ie)
Ireland
75%
0
0
Bing News: data centre Ireland
Ireland
72%
1
1
DigiTimes (Taiwan supply chain) · on trial
World
72%
1
1
Google News: withdrawals, cancellations, delays
US
67%
1
5
Bing News (UK): data centre Scotland
Europe
67%
1
4
Google News: data-centre lawsuits
US
67%
1
4
Google News (BE, FR): data centers Belgique
Europe
67%
1
2
Google News: nuclear deals for data centres
US
67%
1
2
Questions people ask
What does the radar cover?
Four desks. Ireland: every data-centre planning file on the planning register, An Coimisiún Pleanála appeals, CRU, EirGrid and EPA decisions, and Irish news. Europe: permits, grid queues, national rules and campuses across the EU, the UK, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland, in local languages. United States: county fights, large-load interconnection, power deals and gigawatt campuses. World: hyperscaler and AI-lab spending, chips, power equipment and buildouts in Asia, the Gulf and Latin America.
How does it decide what to read?
Each desk has a fixed daily budget. Sources keep a record of how often a check found something worth keeping, and the scan spends most of its slots on the best and a few on the least known. A small model ranks new headlines from what was kept before, with part of each day's list drawn at random so it can learn what it misses. Watched pages, including the sources behind the site's own datasets, learn how often they change.
Who writes the items, and how are they checked?
A scheduled Claude routine per desk scores every line, reads the strongest in full and writes each item from its source, attributing claims. The site's build rejects items without a source link and date or without a stated reason they matter; quotes are kept only if found word for word on the source page.
Can I follow it?
Yes: RSS feeds for all desks at /radar/feed.xml and per desk (/radar/ireland.xml, /radar/europe.xml, /radar/us.xml, /radar/world.xml), and a JSON feed at /radar/feed.json.