NERC's board approved reliability standards for large computational loads of 50 MW or more connected at 100 kV or more, covering AI data centers and crypto miners, and they now go to FERC. Big data centers are starting to be treated like grid assets, not just customers.
Oil & Gas Journal editor Chris Smith talks with Gino Hernandez, head of digital business at ABB Energy Industries, about how AI agents could coordinate field, control room and plant workflows. They cover data quality and provenance, and how to balance more autonomy with safety, cybersecurity and human oversight. Useful framing, light on deployed results.
Demand for industrial outdoor storage yards, usually parcels under 10 acres that hold construction equipment and materials, is rising with the data center build-out. Rents have risen more than 110% since 2020 across the top eight markets, including Houston, Savannah and Norfolk, according to Alterra IOS. The equipment backlog needs somewhere to wait.
Google, OpenAI, Meta, AWS and NVIDIA met with ERCOT and Texas regulators on Dec. 16, 2025, two days before ERCOT's batch study for large loads. The meeting shows who was in the room as Texas wrote the rules for connecting data centers.