EnergyOnline
Services

RSS FEED

EnergyOnline.com rss

News

Faster-than-Expected Data Center Load Growth May Cause Increased Regional Short-term Fossil Fuel Generation and Wholesale Electricity Prices

LCG, March 18, 2026--The EIA released a new "In-depth Analysis" of the potential impact of faster-than-expected near-term growth in data center power demand on power generation and wholesale prices on March 12. The analysis models the lower 48 states through 2027 and compares results to its base case scenario. Key takeaway from this sensitivity analysis is the potential increase in fossil fuels in some regions and potentially a significant increase in wholesale prices in ERCOT.

Read more

Faster-than-Expected Data Center Load Growth May Cause Increased Regional Short-term Fossil Fuel Generation and Wholesale Electricity Prices

LCG, March 18, 2026--The EIA released a new "In-depth Analysis" of the potential impact of faster-than-expected near-term growth in data center power demand on power generation and wholesale prices on March 12. The analysis models the lower 48 states through 2027 and compares results to its base case scenario. Key takeaway from this sensitivity analysis is the potential increase in fossil fuels in some regions and potentially a significant increase in wholesale prices in ERCOT.

Read more

Industry News

California Regulators Won't Vote on Bond Money Today

LCG, Sept. 6, 2001--The California Public Utilities Commission has postponed a vote originally scheduled for today that would have determined how much of the state's record electricity rate increase would go to support the state's $12.5 billion bond offering which aims to fund past and future power purchases by the California Department of Water Resources.

The bond proceeds will be used to pay off a $4.3 billion bridge loan taken in anticipation of the bond issue and to replenish the state treasury for some $7 billion in power purchases made by the water agency so far this year.

That would leave precious little to fund payments on $43 billion worth of long-term power contracts entered into by the water people with independent generators.

Loretta Lynch, president of the CPUC, said in a teleconference yesterday that she hopes the commission will issue its final decisions on the bond issue by Thursday, September 20, but added that no new date has been set for the vote.

Two weeks ago, when the CPUC was set to vote on the matter, Lynch delayed the vote until today, saying the two-week delay was needed "to properly accommodate the volume and scope of comments received" the previous week.

That delay, and now this one, endangers an October 31 deadline for the bond issue and is the latest in a string of problems facing the financing. The state had originally intended to market the bonds in May, and Gov. Gray Davis had "guaranteed" that money from the bonds would repay the state treasury by June 30 for money used to buy power.

The October 31 deadline is important because it is also the deadline when interest on the bridge loan jumps from 4.14 percent to 7 percent. The difference could cost the state $270,000 a day in added interest.

Copyright © 2026 LCG Consulting. All rights reserved. Terms and Copyright
UPLAN-NPM
The Locational Marginal Price Model (LMP) Network Power Model
Uniform Storage Model
A Battery Simulation Model
UPLAN-ACE
Day Ahead and Real Time Market Simulation
UPLAN-G
The Gas Procurement and Competitive Analysis System
PLATO
Database of Plants, Loads, Assets, Transmission...
CAISO CRR Auctions
Monthly Price and Congestion Forecasting Service