President Donald Trump reportedly stated on a campaign call with New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli that the offshore wind stoppage in the state will become permanent, according to Reuters. He said that the administration will not reverse its pause on new federal offshore wind leasing. New Jersey is one of the leading US states for offshore wind development and Atlantic Shores has federal approval to build an up to 2.8-gigawatt project in the area.

Increasing renewable energy usage, particularly solar and wind, helped the Electric Reliability Council of Texas meet a 5% increase in electric power demand in the first three quarters of the year vs. the same period in 2024 -- the fastest growth for any US electricity grid. The US Energy Information Administration expects demand for that period to grow by 14% in 2026. 

Infineon Technologies and Nvidia are devising an 800-volt power infrastructure for AI data centers to keep up with their sharply rising power demands. This transition will allow greater power density and efficiency, supporting projected server rack consumption increases from 120 kilowatts to 1 megawatt by 2030. Silicon, silicon carbide and gallium nitride technologies will power this change, with modular systems allowing for safe hot-swapping of server boards and minimizing downtime.

Meta has entered into a 600-megawatt power purchase agreement with ENGIE's Swenson Ranch Solar site in Texas. Meta will acquire 100% of the project's output and the agreement scales PPAs between the two entities to more than 1.3 gigawatts.

Residential electricity prices increased by 6.1% year over year in August to 17.62 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the US Energy Information Administration, and natural gas prices rose by 47.4%. Regions positioning themselves to be data center hubs caused part of the demand spike, as did continuing manufacturing and electrification load growth, Aaron Denman of Bain & Co. says. The federal pushback on renewable energy and the lack of a stable regulatory framework also are affecting prices, Aspen Power CEO Jorge Vargas says.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright is eyeing a 60-day review period -- rather than years -- for connecting new data centers to the grid, and he has directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to weigh such a rule that also would allow joint interconnection requests, providing faster accessibility to data centers. The proposed rule has proponents and critics among power groups and environmentalists.

Siemens and rhobot.ai have released an edge-native AI solution for manufacturing, now available on the Siemens Xcelerator marketplace. The AI, which integrates directly with factory automation hardware and software, was successfully deployed at CarbonAMS in Ireland without downtime, decreasing digester parasitic load by 39% and increasing gas output by 2.5%.

Japanese startup Helical Fusion has reached a significant milestone toward utility-scale fusion energy by completing a critical performance test of its high-temperature superconducting coil. This test, which replicated the magnetic environment of a fusion reactor and achieved stable current flow, is considered a world first and a significant step toward realizing commercial fusion energy.

Electra is advancing clean iron production with Toyota Tsusho America, Nucor and other partners, aiming to decarbonize steel without using hydrogen. Electra's electrochemical process, powered by renewable energy, operates at low temperatures, eliminating the need for coal. A demonstration plant in Colorado, supported by a $50 million grant from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, is set to produce 500 metric tons of iron annually starting next year.