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Largest US Electric Grid Gets Approval To Curtail Data Centers During Hot Weather

By Ethan Howland of Utility Dive

Power plant and transmission owners often take their facilities offline in the spring for maintenance so they are prepared for the summer, PJM noted. The largest US electricity grid operator said it expected power plants totaling more than 40 GW would be offline for planned outages on May 18.

An Amazon Web Services data center in Stone Ridge, Va. The PJM Interconnection will be able to curtail data centers and other large loads that have backup generation under an emergency order issued May 18, 2026, by the U.S. Department of Energy

“The projected level of generation outages coupled with the forecasted demand raises a significant risk of emergency conditions that could jeopardize electric reliability and public safety,” PJM said.

The curtailments would be a last resort before ordering rolling blackouts, according to the DOE’s order, issued under the Federal Power Act’s section 202(c). Only large energy consumers with backup generation would be affected.

“The employment of this backup generation is expected to reduce stress on the grid,” the DOE said. “This will permit orderly, safe, and secure operations during PJM’s hot weather conditions.”

Next summer the Eastern seaboard will look like North Korea at night thanks to chatbots pic.twitter.com/NEY97pa1LB

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 6, 2026

There are significant amounts of backup generation in the United States that have remained largely untapped during grid emergencies, according to the DOE.

“Deployment of backup generation resources (whether auxiliary, standby, directly-connected, battery storage or other, and whether synchronized or not to the bulk power system) at data centers (including, but not limited to, hyperscaler facilities), and at other large load industrial and commercial customer sites, can prevent avoidable blackouts, thereby saving lives and reducing costs to the American people,” the department said.

In January, the DOE issued similar emergency orders to PJM, Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

PJM said on Monday that it had issued “maximum generation” and “load management” alerts for May 19, with a “hot weather” alert in place for most of the PJM footprint.

Also, the grid operator activated demand response customers in parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Dominion regions. The grid operator said it called on pre-emergency demand response for the Baltimore Gas and Electric, Dominion and Potomac Electric Power Co. areas on Monday to address local transmission constraints and to preserve the run-time of generators that will be needed for the hot weather and higher electricity demand expected on Tuesday and Wednesday.

For three days starting on Tuesday, PJM expected its peak load to hit 134,027 MW, 135,961 MW and 119,103 MW.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/20/2026 - 17:40

The MTA bungled routine garage repair work so badly the agency now has to fork over an additional half a million dollars and accept a one year delay.

Suns out, buns out.

The former Chicago Sky player, 28, sent the internet into a frenzy Monday when she teased that she would be dropping a link on X.

The former Chicago Sky player, 28, sent the internet into a frenzy Monday when she teased that she would be dropping a link on X.

Nemesis has spun way, way out.

Soros Fueling Opposition To Texas Data Center Expansion: Report

A new investigation has connected Wall Street billionaire and Democrat megadonor George Soros to a national progressive network of activist groups opposing data center expansion in Texas.

The Dallas Express reported that Open Society Foundations, founded and funded by Soros, has provided more than $7.6 million to the national Indivisible Project since 2017, including a two-year $3 million grant in 2023. Indivisible Centex, the local Bell County chapter of the national Indivisible network, has been active in opposing data center projects in Temple, Texas.

Indivisible Centex reportedly held a “week of action” in late April against data center projects in Temple. Activities included a “Protest & Petition” event at Temple City Hall on April 24, efforts to recall city council members who supported the projects, and a virtual Zoom event on April 27 titled “Thirsty for Power: When Data Centers Drain Our Water.”

The protests come amid significant data center expansion in the area.

Rowan broke ground earlier this year on Project Temple, a 300-megawatt hyperscale campus on roughly 700 acres with a minimum investment of $700 million, and is developing additional phases in the area. Separately, Meta has been building its own large data center campus in Temple since 2022. The Temple City Council's April vote to annex and rezone about 700 acres along Bob White Road for the Rowan project drew opposition from residents concerned about water use, electricity demand, and infrastructure strain, concerns that prompted a separate group, Stop the Temple Data Center, to launch a recall effort against the mayor and two council members.

Soros and friends, being agents of chaos and whatnot, are fueling the early stages of a “Luddite revolution” against data center expansion. Since mid-2025, the site has warned that exploding residential electricity bills, limited local job gains, and public unease over AI’s societal impacts would spark organized backlash, predicting protests and even infrastructure attacks within a year. Reports document a sharp escalation in resistance, with billions in projects delayed or blocked nationwide amid concerns over power demand, water use, and grid strain.

between exploding electricity bills and lack of jobs for grads, a new luddite revolution is coming - they will be burning down data centers within a year

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 25, 2025

In Texas and beyond, this resistance blends genuine local grievances with coordinated national campaigns. ZeroHedge and others note that such opposition—often amplified by activist networks—mirrors past efforts against energy infrastructure and risks slowing U.S. AI competitiveness, even as hyperscale builds like those in Temple proceed amid the pushback.

American Energy Institute CEO Jason Isaac blasted the efforts and called for greater scrutiny of activist funding.

“The protests outside Temple City Hall are being marketed as a local uprising,” Isaac said. “Indivisible Centex is a chapter of a national organization that has received more than $7 million from George Soros’s Open Society Foundations since 2017. Indivisible is part of a broader network of groups that, according to an American Energy Institute report, have received more than $39 million from foreign donors in Switzerland, Britain, and Denmark. These groups are now pushing Congress to impose a national moratorium on data center construction.”

“This follows the same pattern previously used against pipelines, refineries, and LNG terminals, now targeting the growing power demand from AI, advanced manufacturing, and reshored industry," Isaac added. "Texas leads the country in data center investment due to its abundant, affordable, and reliable power, along with a regulatory environment that supports private property and free enterprise.”

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/20/2026 - 17:30

See all the stars at the world premiere.

See all the stars at the world premiere.

Knicks coach Mike Brown is leaning on lessons from his Warriors’ days to methodically take advantage of James Harden. After the Knicks pulled off a stunning 115-104 overtime win over the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday, erasing a historic 22-point fourth-quarter deficit, Brown revealed the blueprint behind New York’s...

Gocaj fell into an uncovered manhole after parking her SUV along East 52nd Street near Fifth Avenue.

The video shows thick smoke swallowing the neighborhood as powerful winds whipped flames dangerously close to homes while residents raced to escape.

An explosive New York Times report claims US and Israeli officials explored a shocking possibility of elevating former far-right hardliner Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran's new leader.

While many watched the improbable Knicks comeback Tuesday night, one person was unable to stay awake.

Lowe's CEO Warns Housing Market "Most Difficult" Since Financial Crisis As DIY Project Demand Crumbles

Home improvement retailers such as Home Depot and Lowe's warned this week that consumers remain reluctant to splurge on big-ticket home improvement items, as elevated mortgage rates, high home prices, energy inflation, weakening sentiment, and broader macroeconomic uncertainty weigh on demand.

Let's begin with Home Depot, which on Wednesday reported mixed first-quarter results. At the same time, management said on the conference call that it is not expecting a "marked improvement in underlying demand."

Bernstein analyst Zhihan Ma pointed out that Home Depot's foot traffic has been negative for five straight quarters, underscoring the persistent downturn in the home improvement space.

Ma maintained a "cautious outlook" and expects a "gradual path to a home improvement market rebound," as high mortgage rates and inflation in material costs do not help the "affordability hurdle for homeowners to engage with big-ticket discretionary projects."

Fast forward to Wednesday morning, and Lowe's reiterated its full-year forecasts but warned that households are dialing back big-ticket do-it-yourself projects.

What caught our attention was Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison, who warned analysts on an earnings call earlier that:

I think overall this has been the most difficult housing market that I've faced in this business since the financial crisis. And as Brandon mentioned, it's almost exclusively or disproportionately on the DIY customer.

That's the majority of where our revenue comes from. And so I look at it from this perspective, you know, we've delivered four quarters of positive comps in an environment where the DIY has faced more economic pressure than I've ever seen before.

DIY softness comes as U.S. housing turnover sits at historic lows because of affordability woes, some of the worst in a generation, and elevated mortgage rates.

Housing affordability for first-time homebuyers remains at a four-decade low. 

This, of course, means fewer home sales, which typically translate into fewer move-in renovations, remodels, flooring upgrades, kitchen projects, and other big-ticket home improvement purchases.

At the start of the week, Wayfair CFO Kate Gulliver issued a similar warning at JPMorgan's conference, signaling that demand for big-ticket home items is unlikely to recover this year.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/20/2026 - 17:20

The fallen Army officers — whose bones were unearthed by chance during a construction project seven years ago — will be laid to rest in caskets at Lake George's Battlefield Park, a sprawling $700,000 memorial.

Nvidia Unchanged Despite Big Earnings Beat And Solid Guidance

As we discussed extensively in our preview, besides the Q1 revenue and guidance ($82BN+ and $90BN whisper respectively), Wall Street was expecting to get more color on the following topics during today's call and Q&A:

1. Potential for increased shareholder cash returns,
2. Vera Rubin ramp timing (2H 26E),
3. Gross margin durability (~75% amidst continued memory/other cost inflation),
4. Update to the $1 Trillion 25-27 forecast, esp. contribution from LPU racks, CPU and Vera Rubin Ultra, not included before
5. Potential upside from agentic AI to the server CPU business;
6. Competitive landscape changes against Google TPU, agentic CPU, other ASICs. 

With that in mind, here is what the world's biggest company just reported for Q1:

• Revenue $81.62BN, beating Exp $79.19BN, but a bit light of the $82BN whisper 
• Adj EPS $1.87, beating Exp $1.76
• Adj. Gross Margin 75%, beating Exp. 74.5%

Solid all around. 

The company's all-important disclosed Data Center revenue was a record $75.2 billion in Q1, up 21% from the previous quarter and up 92% from a year ago. Nvidia also said that Vera Rubin is on track for second half of 2026. 

“The buildout of AI factories — the largest infrastructure expansion in human history — is accelerating at extraordinary speed,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Agentic AI has arrived, doing productive work, generating real value and scaling rapidly across companies and industries. NVIDIA is uniquely positioned at the center of this transformation as the only platform that runs in every cloud, powers every frontier and open source model, and scales everywhere AI is produced — from hyperscale data centers to the edge.”

Looking ahead, the company guided to revenue of $91.0 billion (plus or minus 2%), which is on top of the whisper number that had been discussed earlier. Certainly a solid guide, especially since  NVIDIA is not assuming any Data Center compute revenue from China in its outlook. 

Some more guidance:

• Additionally, gross margins are expected to be 74.9% and 75.0% (GAAP and non-GAAP)  plus or minus 50 basis points.
• Operating expenses are expected to be approximately $8.5 billion and $8.3 billion (GAAP and non-GAAP, respectively).

A quick word on margins: as Bloomberg explains,  75% in an environment where, as the CFO defends it, they are shifting between architectures and Blackwell-based platforms are ramping up. Typically new chip ramps pressure margins because yields and supply chains can be messy at the start/early on. Nvidia holding at 75% is good, if almost unrealistic. 

In Q1, the company generated $48.6 billion in free cash flow, a staggering amount, which helped fund $20.0 billion in shareholder returns in the form of shares repurchased and cash dividends (as of the end of the first quarter, the company had $38.5 billion remaining under its share repurchase authorization). More importantly, the Board of Directors approved an additional $80.0 billion to the Company’s share repurchase authorization. Also of note, Nvidia's cash and marketable debt were $50 billion at the end of the quarter. That was down by a couple of billion dollars. 

Another notable thing is that NVIDIA said it was transitioning to a new reporting framework that "better reflects its current and future growth drivers." NVIDIA will have two market platforms — Data Center and Edge Computing.

• Within Data Center, NVIDIA will report two sub-markets, Hyperscale and ACIE, which incorporates AI Clouds, Industrial and Enterprise. Hyperscale will include revenue from the public clouds and the world’s largest consumer internet companies, while ACIE addresses NVIDIA’s growth opportunity in diverse AI purpose-built data centers and AI factories across industries and countries.
• Edge Computing highlights data processing devices for agentic and physical AI including PCs, game consoles, workstations, AI-RAN base stations, robotics and automotive.

Under the previous sub-markets, Data Center compute revenue was a record $60.4 billion, up 77% from a year ago and up 18% sequentially. Data Center networking revenue was a record $14.8 billion, up 199% from a year ago and up 35% sequentially. The only problem: Compute missed expectations, which probably explains why NVDA will no longer break it out.

And another red flag: inventory soared. Usually this is a horrible sign for component makers. In this case Nvidia is saying that it has been spending to secure strategic inventory and capacity to “meet demand beyond the next several quarters.” Of course, there would not be a shortage to begin with if inventory was not being massively stockpiled.

In any case, the market is glossing over the negatives, and focusing on the solid beat and guidance (even if compute appears to be lagging), and as a result after briefly dumping then pumping, the stock is unchanged, which means all that options traders who were betting on a 5.5% move after hours are about to see their calls and puts expire worthless.

Tyler Durden Wed, 05/20/2026 - 16:48

The reality star and singer previously shared that she thought "people were waiting for her to croak."

The reality star and singer previously shared that she thought "people were waiting for her to croak."

With the playoffs raging on, many will even ship in the Knick of time.