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☆ How an Obscure Agency Became a Linchpin for Climate Policy
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may be the most important climate agency you’ve never heard of. Responsible for overseeing interstate transmission of gas, oil and electricity, the independent agency could help determine how much wind, solar and other renewable energy moves from engineering plans onto the nation’s electric grids and into homes and businesses. On Monday the commission approved long-awaited changes that require grid operators around the country to plan 20 years into the future, taking into account changes in the energy mix, the growing number of states that have policies requiring wind and solar power, as well as the risks that extreme weather poses to reliability.

Persons: you’ve Organizations: Federal Energy Regulatory

☆ New Rules to Overhaul Electric Grids Could Boost Wind and Solar Power
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Brad Plumer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Federal regulators on Monday approved sweeping changes to how America’s electric grids are planned and funded, in a move that supporters hope could spur thousands of miles of new high-voltage power lines and make it easier to add more wind and solar energy. The new rule by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees interstate electricity transmission, is the most significant attempt in years to upgrade and expand the country’s creaking electricity network. A big reason for the slow pace of grid expansion is that operators rarely plan for the long term, the commission said. The nation’s three main electric grids are overseen by a patchwork of utilities and regional grid operators that mainly focus on ensuring the reliability of electricity to homes and businesses. When it comes to building new transmission lines, grid operators tend to be reactive, responding after a wind-farm developer asks to connect to the existing network or once a reliability problem is spotted.

Organizations: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Smarter grids, like Chattanooga's, are just part of what it will take to modernize the American grid in the coming decades. A troubled transition to renewable energyOffshore wind farms are one of the growing areas of renewable energy. And the Edwards & Sanborn project, the US's largest solar energy and energy storage project in California, came online in January. Renewable energy is not only cleaner than fossil fuels but also often less expensive. Breaking down barriersThe US grid isn't designed for fluctuating renewable energy, so much of it goes to waste because clean-energy projects can't connect to the grid.

Persons: Kevin Schneider, Harris, Joe Rand, Joshua Rhodes, barleyman, Edwards, Rand, Philip Odonkor, Seib, headwinds, Julia Bovey, Ørsted, Bovey, Paul Denholm, We'll, Denholm, There's, PATRICK T, FALLON, we're, Schneider, We've, EPB, MISO, it's Organizations: Infrastructure, Service, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Nationwide, Biden, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Texas, Renewables, Sanborn, of Systems, Enterprises, Stevens Institute of Technology, Trump, Fork, Eversource Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Getty, Infrastructure Law Locations: Chattanooga , Tennessee, Chattanooga, EPB, Austin, Maine, North Carolina, California, United States

☆ John Deere dealership says a solar storm left GPS tracking on farmers' tractors 'extremely compromised'
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ana Altchek | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A severe geomagnetic storm hit the northern US. The storm caused auroras — and apparently disrupted precision farming systems, a John Deere dealership said. Satellite signals were "extremely impacted" by the storm, the dealership said. But for some farmers, the geomagnetic storm was more of a headache. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: auroras —, John, — Organizations: John Deere, Service, Business

☆ U.S. Awards $120 Million to Chipmaker to Expand Facility in Minnesota
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Madeleine Ngo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Federal officials will provide up to $120 million in grants to Polar Semiconductor to help the company expand its chip manufacturing facility in Minnesota, the Biden administration announced on Monday, the latest in a string of awards meant to strengthen the U.S. supply of semiconductors. Commerce Department officials said the grant would help Polar upgrade technology and double production capacity at its facility in Bloomington, Minn., within two years. The company produces chips that are critical for cars, defense systems and electrical grids, federal officials said. “We are making taxpayer dollars go as far as possible while crowding in private and state investment to create jobs, secure our supply chains and bolster manufacturing in Minnesota,” said Laurie Locascio, the under secretary of commerce for standards and technology. The law gave the Commerce Department $39 billion to distribute to companies to incentivize the construction and expansion of new plants in the United States.

Persons: Biden, ”, Laurie Locascio Organizations: Polar Semiconductor, Commerce, Commerce Department Locations: Minnesota, Bloomington, Minn, United States

Night skies in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere are expected to bloom again on Saturday night with the vivid colors of the northern lights, or aurora borealis, as a powerful geomagnetic storm caused by a hyperactive sun persists through the weekend. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which monitors space weather, said in an update on Saturday that it continued to observe solar activity that could lead to periods of “severe-extreme” geomagnetic storms. Major power utilities had largely prepared their electrical grids for the solar storm, and their customers were unaffected. For most people, the solar storm was a gift: It caused ribbons of pink, purple and green light across night skies of much of the United States, Canada and Europe. Where evening skies are clear on Saturday, the lights can be expected again.

Organizations: Northern, Atmospheric Administration Locations: United States, Canada, Europe

☆ Musk's Starlink satellites disrupted by major solar storm
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Starlink, the satellite arm of Elon Musk's SpaceX, warned on Saturday of a "degraded service" as the Earth is battered by the biggest geomagnetic storm due to solar activity in two decades. Starlink owns around 60% of the roughly 7,500 satellites orbiting Earth and is a dominant player in satellite internet. Musk said earlier in a post on X that Starlink satellites were under a lot of pressure due to the geomagnetic storm, but were holding up so far. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said the storm is the biggest since October 2003 and likely to persist over the weekend, posing risks to navigation systems, power grids, and satellite navigation, among other services. The thousands of Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit use inter-satellite laser links to pass data between one another in space at the speed of light, allowing the network to offer internet coverage around the world.

Persons: Elon Musk, Elon, Starlink, Musk Organizations: Starlink, SpaceX, U.S . National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration Locations: Izyum, Kharkiv, Ukraine

☆ Solar storms could create rare aurora displays, impact communications on Earth this weekend
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

When the energized particles from coronal mass ejections reach Earth’s magnetic field, they interact with gases in the atmosphere to create different colored light in the sky. The Space Weather Prediction Center tracked multiple strong flares emitting from a large cluster of sunspots on the solar surface since Wednesday. Alex Kormann/Star Tribune/Getty ImagesThe effects of geomagnetic stormsWhen directed at Earth, these ejections can cause geomagnetic storms, or major disturbances of Earth’s magnetic field. So far, researchers have obseverd only three severe geomagnetic storms during the current solar cycle, which began in December 2019, according to the center. The storms also affect flight patterns of commercial airlines, which are instructed to stay away from Earth’s poles during geomagnetic storms due to loss of communication or navigation capabilities.

Persons: Wolf, Alex Kormann Organizations: CNN, National Oceanic, Prediction, National Weather Service, Star Tribune, Getty Locations: Alabama, Northern California, New Mexico , Missouri, North Carolina, California, United States, England, United Kingdom, Cloquet, Minnesota, Sweden, South Africa, Quebec

☆ A 'severe' geomagnetic storm is forecast for Earth for the first time in years — here's what to know about these storms
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewFor the first time in nearly 20 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecasted a "severe" G4 geomagnetic storm to hit this Friday, dazzling states across the northern US with aurora. G4 storms are the second-strongest type of geomagnetic storm. "If geomagnetic storms were hurricanes, 'severe' would be category 4," according to SpaceWeather.com. Solar storms happen when the sun shoots powerful explosions of highly-energized and magnetic plasma called coronal mass ejections toward Earth. Also, a severe storm might disrupt GPS, so it's best to have a written record and directions to important locations, like hospitals.

Persons: —, Matt Owens, Owens, George Lepp, Alex Young, NASA Goddard's, it's, Young Organizations: Service, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Business, University of Reading, NASA, NOAA, Northern, NASA Goddard's Heliophysics Locations: Sweden, South Africa, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania

☆ Why tonight’s massive solar storm could disrupt communications and GPS systems
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

NOAA’s severe space weather watch suggests the storm could trigger numerous effects for life on Earth, possibly affecting the power grid as well as satellite and high frequency radio communications. Moreover, the changes to the ionosphere can block or degrade radio transmissions trying to pass through the atmosphere to reach satellites. And they can also prevent radio transmissions from successfully bouncing off the ionosphere — which some radio operators normally do to increase the range of their signals. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency outlined a similar report in a 2021 presentation on space weather, finding that line-of-sight radio transmissions are generally not affected by space weather except in specific situations. The largest known geomagnetic storm in history, known as the Carrington Event of 1859, caused telegraph stations to spark and catch fire.

Persons: Washington CNN — Buckle, “ SWPC, Ashley Strickland Organizations: Washington CNN, Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Communications, NOAA, Prediction, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Infrastructure Security Agency Locations: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, Quebec, Canada, Sweden, South Africa

☆ Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Brad Plumer | Nadja Popovich | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +17 min

Uses Electricity They’re delivering solar power after dark in California and helping to stabilize grids in other states. Peak demand average daily generation, by fuel type Peak demand 25k 25k megawatts megawatts Imports 20k 20k 15k 15k Gas Solar power Batteries Solar power 10k 10k Wind 5k 5k Hydro Nuclear 0 0 12a.m. Peak demand average daily generation, by fuel type Peak demand 25k 25k megawatts megawatts Imports 20k 20k 15k 15k Gas Solar power Batteries Solar power 10k 10k Wind 5k 5k Hydro Nuclear 0 0 12a.m. Ga. Ga. Texas Texas La. By The New York TimesMost grid batteries use lithium-ion technology, similar to batteries in smartphones or electric cars.

Persons: …, ”, Helen Kou, Conn ., Mo ., R.I, Conn . Conn ., . Kan ., “, Andrés Gluski, Mike Blake, John Phipps, Phipps, Stephanie Smith, Aaron Mitchell, Natalie McIntire, Tamir Kalifa, Emma Konet, Max Kanter, BloombergNEF, you’ve, Meredith Fowlie, Nate Blair, “ We’re, Ross D Organizations: Hydro Nuclear, Hydro, The New York Times, “, United States U.S, Conn . Pa . Iowa Neb, N.J . Ohio Nev, Del . Utah Ill, Texas, Fla ., Vt, Wis ., Wis . Idaho Idaho S.D, Pa . Iowa Iowa Neb, Neb . N.J . N.J . Ohio Ohio Nev, Del . Utah Utah Ill, . Energy, AES Corporation, Reuters, California, Georgia Power, Natural Resources Defense Council, Nationwide, The New York Times Grid, University of California, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Franklin, Associated Locations: California, The New York Times California, China, Texas , California, Arizona, Wash . Maine, Minn, Ore, N.H, N.Y, Mass, Wis . Idaho S.D, Mich, Wyo, R.I, Conn, Conn . Pa . Iowa, N.J . Ohio, Del . Utah, Calif, Md, Colo, W.Va . Va, Mo, Mo . Kan, Ky, N.C, Tenn, Ariz, ., S.C . California, Ala, Miss ., Fla, Alaska Texas, Hawaii, Wash . Maine Maine Mont, Mont, Vt, Wis, Wis . Idaho Idaho, S.D . Mich, Conn . Conn, Conn . Conn . Pa, Pa . Iowa, Neb . N.J . N.J . Ohio, Nev . Ind, Ind, Del, W.Va, W.Va . Va . Va, . Kan . Kan, S.C . Ala . Ala . Miss, . Texas Texas, La, Fla . Alaska Alaska Hawaii Hawaii California, Texas, Menifee, . California, ” In Texas, Fort Worth, West Texas, Georgia, Sweetwater , Texas, Tierra, Berkeley, Sacramento

☆ Today's 'pain trade' is a rapidly rising market catching many investors off-guard
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A rapidly rising market has caught a lot of investors off-guard. He loves to watch what he calls the "pain trade," the move in the markets that would catch the largest number of active investors off-guard. Surveying Monday's late-day rally on the floor, Anderson looked up at the NYSE boards and said, "the pain trade is up." The S & P 500 is now within 1.4% of its old closing high of 5,254 from March 28th. The STOXX Europe 600, essentially the S & P 500 of Europe, is also less than 1% below an historic high.

Persons: Tim Anderson, Anderson, It's, Nicholas Colas, DataTrek, Ingersoll Rand, Parker, Hannifin, it's, Alec Young, MAPsignals.com Organizations: MND Partners, NYSE, Nasdaq, Utilities, Reuters, Southern Company, EatoN Corp Locations: Europe, industrials

☆ These global stocks will soar on an $858 billion electric boom, Goldman says, giving one 45% upside
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Amala Balakrishner | In Amala-Balakrishner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

They project that 800 billion euros ($857.5 billion) will be spent on Europe's power transmission and distribution, thanks in part to "years of under-investment." Here are three of Goldman's buy-rated stocks with over 30% upside potential in the next 12 months. That gives the German stock — which is on Goldman's conviction list — about 35% potential upside. Goldman has a target price of 2,024 British pence on the stock, giving it around 42.8% upside potential. Goldman has a target price of 135 euros on the stock, giving it 45.5% upside potential.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Goldman, Elia, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: E.on Goldman, E.on, Goldman Locations: Europe, Belgian

☆ Making the power grid 'smart' could save us all money and prevent blackouts. Chattanooga made the $280 million investment.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Chattanooga's utility built a $280 million smart grid, creating $2.7 billion in economic value. The local utility, called EPB of Chattanooga, spent $280 million to refurbish its power system with smart technologies to make a "smart grid." The traditional power grid carries electricity from a power plant to homes and commercial buildings. Smart grids can bring huge economic benefitsEven Congress knows the nation needs a smart grid. Though a smart grid requires a big up-front investment, it can save a lot of money down the line.

Persons: —, That's, Tiago Majuelos, Monika Skolimowska, Kevin Schneider, Schneider, Joshua Rhodes, David Wade, EPB, Wade, Taylor, David Swanson, We're Organizations: Infrastructure, Service, Chattanooga Smart, US Department of Energy, Wall Street, Getty, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, American Society of Civil Engineers, University of Texas, Department of Energy, C Electric Company, BI, Reuters, Nationwide Locations: Chattanooga , Tennessee, Chattanooga, Tennessee, EPB, California, Austin, Hamilton County, Palm Springs , California, Columbia, Southern California

☆ Anglo American rejects BHP's $39 billion takeover bid to form mining juggernaut
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-26 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Australia-based BHP on Thursday said it had made an all-share takeover offer which valued the smaller company at £31.1 billion ($38.9 billion). "The BHP proposal is opportunistic and fails to value Anglo American's prospects, while significantly diluting the relative value upside participation of Anglo American's shareholders relative to BHP's shareholders," he said. Anglo American Chairman Stuart Chambers said the proposed restructure was "highly unattractive, creating substantial uncertainty and execution risk borne almost entirely by Anglo American, its shareholders and its other stakeholders." Shares of Anglo American Platinum rose more than 2% on the announcement, while Kumba Iron Ore moved 0.9% lower. Chambers said that, in its current state, Anglo American was "well positioned" to benefit from that energy transition.

Persons: BHP's, Stuart Chambers, Chambers, — CNBC's Jenni Reid Organizations: BHP Group, BHP, CNBC, Limited, Iron Ore Limited Locations: Australia, London, American, South Africa

☆ How Hitachi Digital Services is helping companies adopt AI models responsibly to meet their operational and financial goals
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Sponsor Post | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

To assess the value of investments in generative AI models, companies must first develop their knowledge of the tools' potential for financial impact. We then help pair each use case with the right AI strategy, including the applicability of generative AI. To further support optimal financial operations for your company, your generative AI models must be trained to encompass operational and information technology priorities and perspectives. Learn more about how Hitachi Digital Services uses AI to empower informed decision-making. This post was created by Hitachi Digital Services with Insider Studios.

Persons: Premkumar Balasubramanian, observability, HARC Organizations: Hitachi Digital Services, Hitachi, Insider Studios

☆ Energy Dept. Aims to Speed Up Permits for Power Lines
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Brad Plumer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration on Thursday finalized a rule meant to speed up federal permits for major transmission lines, part of a broader push to expand America’s electric grids. The pace of construction for high-voltage power lines has sharply slowed since 2013, and building new lines can take a decade or more because of permitting delays and local opposition. The Energy Department is trying to use the limited tools at its disposal to pour roughly $20 billion into grid upgrades and to streamline approvals for new lines. Under the rule announced on Thursday, the Energy Department would take over as the lead agency in charge of federal environmental reviews for certain interstate power lines and would aim to issue necessary permits within two years. Currently, the federal approval process can take four years or more and often involves multiple agencies each conducting their own separate reviews.

Persons: Biden Organizations: The Energy Department, Energy Department

☆ One for the Ages: Sonia Delaunay’s Wearable Abstractions
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Walker Mimms | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

If Wassily Kandinsky bent the visible world to the whims of his canvas, reducing concert hall scenes to puddles of color and line, Sonia Delaunay seems to have worked the other way around. A fashion and textile designer by trade, the Ukrainian-born Delaunay (1885-1979) filled the world with bold and delightful patterns — with the chevrons and dot grids and floral wiggles of the many scarves and dresses she created in France — then let her paintings reflect the results. Or at least that’s the impression given by the Bard Graduate Center’s “Sonia Delaunay: Living Art,” a playful but rigorous unearthing of 184 garments, artifacts and paintings — most on loan from France — spanning 60 years of Delaunay’s career.

Persons: Wassily Kandinsky, Sonia Delaunay, Delaunay, France —, Center’s “ Sonia Delaunay Organizations: Bard, France Locations: Ukrainian, France

☆ Anglo American shares pop 12% after BHP Group's $39 billion takeover bid to form mining juggernaut
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Mining giant BHP Group on Thursday said it had made an all-share takeover offer for rival Anglo American , valuing the smaller company at £31.1 billion ($38.9 billion). Anglo American shares leapt at the market open and were 12% higher at 9 a.m. in London. Australia-based BHP, the biggest listed miner according to Companies Market Cap, said that the deal would deliver 0.7097 BHP shares per Anglo American share to Anglo American's ordinary shareholders. Anglo American has a huge copper operation based in South America and a production target for the metal of 730,000 to 790,000 tons in 2024. This compares with a copper output aim between 1.7 million and 1.9 million for BHP over the same period.

Organizations: Mining, BHP Group, BHP Locations: London, Australia, American, South America

☆ The electric car revolution is on track, says IEA
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

“The continued momentum behind electric cars is clear in our data, although it is stronger in some markets than others,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in a statement. Last year, global EV sales grew 35% to almost 14 million. “Intensifying market competition and improving battery technologies are expected to reduce (EV) prices in the coming years,” the IEA said. “Growing electric car exports from Chinese automakers, which accounted for more than half of all electric car sales in 2023, could add to downward pressure on purchase prices,” it added. By 2030, almost one in three cars on the roads in China is set to be electric, according to the IEA.

Persons: —, Tesla, “, Fatih Birol, China’s BYD, Brandon Bell, EVs, ” Birol Organizations: London CNN — Global, International Energy Agency, IEA, Li, Getty, European Union, EV, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW Locations: China, Chinese, Germany, United States, Austin , Texas, EVs, Europe

☆ California briefly used batteries as its biggest source of power twice in the last week
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

California hit a record last week as battery storage became the biggest power provider in the state. AdvertisementBatteries briefly became the biggest source of power in California twice in the past week. In that instance, which broke Tuesday's record, batteries reached a peak output of 6,458 megawatts. By connecting huge, rechargeable batteries to power grids, power utilities can store energy generated during the day by solar panels and wind turbines. California isn't the only state where battery storage is growing quickly.

Persons: — Organizations: Batteries, Service, Business Locations: California, Golden, GridStatus.io, Texas

☆ How a Jack Dorsey-backed bitcoin miner uses a volcano in Kenya to turn on the lights in rural homes
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

watch nowHELL'S GATE, Kenya — Two-and-a-half hours northwest of Nairobi by car, a small group of bitcoin miners set up shop at the site of an extinct volcano near Hell's Gate National Park. "That doesn't happen without the bitcoin miners and us being globally distributed." MacKenzie SigalosWherever the operation, bitcoin mining is a volatile business, because so much of the economics depends on the price of the cryptocurrency. Before getting into bitcoin mining, he and his two co-founders, Philip Walton and Janet Maingi, spent years building internet connectivity infrastructure in rural and urban Africa. Demand from bitcoin miners on these semi-stranded assets is making renewables in Africa economically viable.

Persons: Jack Dorsey's, MacKenzie Sigalos, Erik Hersman, Bitcoin, Gridless, Lake Naivasha, bitcoin, Adam Sullivan, Philip Walton, Janet Maingi, Michael Gottschalk, Nic Carter, Carter, Hersman, It's, it's Organizations: CNBC, Kenyan, Core, Deutsche Bank, Marathon, United Arab, Getty, Island Ventures, Miners, International Energy Agency Locations: Kenya, Nairobi, Lake Naivasha, Malawi, Zambia, Venezuela, Lebanon, Gate, Lake, U.S, Texas, Russia, China, America, Africa, Toronto, Argentina, Florida, United Arab Emirates, Paraguay, Hersman, Sudan, Iceland, El Salvador, Bhutan

☆ New data centers require billions of dollars in utility system upgrades. You may end up paying for it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Daniel Geiger | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

A record surge of data center construction is underway to provide the computing and storage that underpins society's fast-expanding digital footprint and powers artificial intelligence. In areas of the country where data centers have clustered, utilities have unveiled plans to spend billions of dollars to keep up. asked David Springe, the executive director of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates. "Then you have the data centers that are having exponential load growth," Nelson said. Data centers also don't deliver the number of long term jobs – a key yardstick for public benefits – that other industries do.

Persons: Mike DeWine, David Springe, they're, Ryan Augsburger, Augsburger, Ron Nelson, Strategen, ratepayers, Nelson, Steve Helber, That's, PJM, David Lapp, Lapp, Jeffrey Shields, Shields, Kantele Franko, Shelby Moore, Meta, behemoth Blackstone, QTS, John Gavan, Daniel Tait, Tait Organizations: Amazon, Ohioans, Business, Wall, Boston Consulting Group, National Association of State, Consumer, Ohio Manufacturers ' Association, Web Services, Energy, Dominion Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Tech, Wall Street titans, American Electric Power, Buckeye Power, AEP, Buckeye, AEP Ohio, Staff, Intel, Policy Institute Locations: Ohio, ratepayers, Chester , Va, Virginia, PJM, Chicago, New Jersey, New York City, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Columbus , Ohio, Denver, New Albany , Ohio, Minnesota, Columbus, Mississippi

☆ Blackstone's data-center bets have climbed 10-fold to $100 billion in just 3 years. And it's just the start, Steve Schwarzman says.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Schwarzman said QTS was now "the largest data center company in North America" and that data centers were one of Blackstone's "highest conviction investment themes today." Jon Gray, Blackstone's president, suggested Blackstone's data center portfolio would continue to grow. The size of Blackstone's investments in data centers reflect an astonishing rise for a once-obscure industry that's gaining importance in the race to develop and commercialize artificial intelligence. Around the country, there has been a boom of data center construction. Late last year, QTS won local approval to build one of the country's largest new data center projects in Virginia.

Persons: Steve Schwarzman, Schwarzman, Blackstone's, Blackstone, QTS, Jon Gray, Gray, Michael Chae, We've Organizations: Business, Blackstone, Google, Income Trust, Digital Realty Trust Locations: North America, QTS, Virginia, Frankfurt, Paris

☆ Booming construction of AI data centers is creating constraints on the power grid. These 6 stocks are set to profit from the demand for better infrastructure, according to Bank of America.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

It called this strategy "The AI trade after the trade" and identified 50 stocks that could fall under this category. It takes massive data centers to train and distribute LLMs for public use. An April 17 note from Bank of America led by Thomas Thornton, the head of research marketing, estimates that data centers under construction will initially increase power usage from these facilities by 50%. For the electrical and thermal equipment needed to run data centers, investors can look to Vertiv (VRT), according to Andrew Obin, a research analyst at Bank of America. As demand for data centers grows, these companies are experiencing increased pricing power, according to research analyst David W. Barden.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, there's, Thomas Thornton, It's, Andrew Obin, Michael Feniger, David W, Barden Organizations: Nvidia, AMD, Microsoft, Google, Business, Bank of America, Caterpillar

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