Deep dive · Carbon accounting

What “carbon neutral” should mean for a data center in 2026

Every hyperscaler matches 100% of its electricity with renewables, and every one of them reported higher emissions this year. The rules behind that paradox are being rewritten. Here is the standard we think the industry should hold itself to.

Sep 28, 2026 · 7 min read

Google data center in The Dalles, Oregon, behind a high-voltage substation and transmission towers — Visitor7 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

4.4xGap between Microsoft's location-based and market-based Scope 2 emissions, FY2025
65%Google's hourly carbon-free energy share in 2025, despite 100% annual renewable matching
+18%Rise in Google's total emissions in 2025, its largest annual increase

Fervo Energy's Cape Station geothermal plant under construction in Beaver County, Utah, with wind turbines on the horizon — Braddah n8 / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Deep dive · Power & grid

The firm power gap: how AI data centers are actually getting electricity

Chips and capital are no longer the binding constraint on the AI buildout. Firm power is. Here is how developers are closing the gap between now and 2032, and what each option costs in carbon.

Sep 28, 2026 · 8 min read

The main aisle of racks in the Frontier exascale supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory — OLCF at ORNL / Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Deep dive · AI efficiency

Your AI strategy has a carbon footprint. Here's how to measure and cut it.

The energy per AI query has fallen more than 30-fold in a year, and total AI emissions are still climbing. For CIOs and chief AI officers, the levers that matter most are model choice, workload design, and procurement.

Sep 28, 2026 · 7 min read

AI data center buildout tracker

Open the tracker

25Projects tracked

31.8 GWPlanned capacity

$317BConfirmed financing tracked

38%Of capacity with gas in the power mix

Updated Sep 28, 2026. Figures are announced or reported; see methodology.

OperationalUnder constructionAnnouncedDelayed or at riskCircle size = planned capacity. Locations approximate.

Headlines

Microsoft plans multi-GW Maia deployments from 2027, with 167kW Maia 300 racks and 40% more tokens per MW

A 167kW rack envelope and a stated plan for multi-gigawatt inference deployments give builders concrete power and cooling densities to plan for, while the tokens-per-megawatt claim shows how hyperscalers are framing efficiency for AI strategy decisions.

Data Center Dynamics

Open cabinet of the Frontier supercomputer showing dense compute blades and cabling — Oak Ridge National Laboratory / Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Oct 13

NTT reportedly to build $6.3bn data center for Anthropic in Japan, talks in final stages

For AI strategy leads and builders, the report points to a possible large dedicated capacity deal in Japan, but terms are unconfirmed and should be treated as unannounced until the companies comment.

Data Center Dynamics

Aerial view of Google's data center campus in Council Bluffs, Iowa — Chad Davis / Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Oct 13

Scaleway plans AMD MI355X supercomputer in Sweden and Nvidia B300 GPU zone in Copenhagen

European AI capacity is diversifying across AMD and Nvidia hardware in the Nordics, which gives builders and AI strategy leads more regional options, though capacity, power and timing details remain undisclosed.

Data Center Dynamics

Oct 13

VivoPower starts construction on 42MW Mo i Rana data center in Norway

Converting a former crypto mining site with planned waste heat reuse via district heating shows one route to bring AI capacity online on existing sites, though the heat offtake arrangements are still under evaluation.

Data Center Dynamics

Oct 12

FERC rejects PJM's Interim Resource Adequacy Service for large loads on Oct. 9, approves registry

Developers planning data centers in PJM territory should expect curtailment priorities to be set by state regulators rather than through a PJM-wide interim service, and should plan for continued uncertainty in interconnection rules and capacity prices.

Utility Dive

West front of the United States Capitol — Architect of the Capitol (public domain)

Oct 12

Memphis council delays decision on 12-month data center moratorium

Developers weighing Memphis sites face continued uncertainty over whether new projects could be barred for a year.

Data Center Dynamics

Oct 12

Nebius signs LOI to lease capacity at Volt's 600MW Rotterdam AI campus

Volt says it will draw offshore wind electricity near where it comes ashore at the port, with Eneco supplying energy, which is one way to site large AI load while limiting transmission across a congested inland grid.

Data Center Dynamics

High-voltage transmission tower and lines crossing the Arizona desert — Bureau of Land Management Arizona (public domain)

Oct 12

Rep. Huffman urges Democrats to wait until after November midterms before acting on Senate permitting bill

Data center demand is a stated driver of the permitting push, so the bill's final shape and timing after the midterms could affect how fast grid, pipeline and generation projects tied to new load get approved.

Heatmap

Oct 12

SWI raises €800 million ($892.4m) in equity for data center and AI compute expansion in Europe and US

Fresh equity for a platform spanning Europe and the US, with a 1.3GW acquired footprint to be renamed SWI Digital, signals continued capital availability for AI-oriented capacity and for repurposing existing power-connected sites.

Data Center Dynamics

Oct 12

Virginia SCC to decide on NextEra-Dominion merger in January after hearing where officials pressed data center cost guarantees

Data center builders in Dominion territory should note that data center cost allocation is emerging as a likely condition in the merger review, which could shape future interconnection and tariff terms.

Utility Dive

More headlines

Largest projects


Nscale Monarch campusWest Virginia, USA	8 GW
Meta HyperionLouisiana, USA	5 GW
AWS Project Rainier (New Carlisle)Indiana, USA	2.3 GW
Project Jade (Cheyenne)Wyoming, USA	1.8 GW
PowerHouse Hillwood JolietIllinois, USA	1.8 GW
Stargate Frontier CampusTexas, USA	1.4 GW

Weekly rundown

Past issues

Issue ofOct 122026

Nuclear uprates, PJM cost fights and $260bn in canceled projects

Google and DOE back 1.3 GW of nuclear uprates, DOE presses PJM on who pays for data center load, and Heatmap counts $260bn in projects canceled after local opposition.

Aerial view of data center clusters in Loudoun County, Virginia — Theodore Christopher / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Deep dives

All deep dives

Deep dive · Power & grid

The firm power gap: how AI data centers are actually getting electricity

Chips and capital are no longer the binding constraint on the AI buildout. Firm power is. Here is how developers are closing the gap between now and 2032, and what each option costs in carbon.

Sep 28, 2026 · 8 min read

Power & grid Policy & regulation

Deep dive · Carbon accounting