• THE GRID
The Emergency Order Expired Monday. The Emergency Didn't.
At 11:59 p.m. on Monday night, a federal order expired. DOE Order No. 202-26-37 had let the Southwest Power Pool force data centers and large loads onto backup generators across 17 states. It was meant to keep the lights on for homes. It worked.
But it was the second SPP emergency order in ten days. And at least the fourth time this year the DOE has invoked a 1935 wartime law — Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act — to prop up a grid buckling under AI-era demand.
January. Late June. Mid-July. Late July. Each time, the same tool. Each time, the same fix: shove data centers off the public grid and onto their own diesel generators so families can run air conditioning.
202(c) Orders in 2026
4+
| States Under SPP Order
17
|
U.S. Excess Capacity
~3%
| Excess Above Min.
26 GW
|
See this official SEC document? On page 146 Elon Musk revealed the name of a startup that Jeff believes will be…
Even though this has nothing to do with robots, self-driving cars, or rockets…
This startup is growing faster than Tesla… faster than SpaceX… and even 23 times faster than Nvidia.
That's why The Atlantic called it…
"The fastest-growing business in the history of capitalism." (Click here to get the name, 100% free of charge.)
And the grid isn't done sweating. SPP's West region was under a Conservative Operations Advisory through August 4. Hot temps, high loads, low wind. The usual recipe.
An ICF report from June puts the margin in sharp focus. The U.S. sits on just 26 GW of capacity above its minimum reliability floor. That's roughly 3% of what's installed. One bad week in August could erase it.
"The Trump Administration is tapping into an abundant supply of unused backup generation to maintain affordable, reliable, and secure power for hardworking American families and businesses."
Read that again. "Abundant supply of unused backup generation." In plain English: diesel generators at data centers are now a load-balancing tool for the national grid.
That's not a plan. It's a patch. Backup generators exist for outages, not for Tuesday afternoons in July.
Grid analysts have noted that this summer's stress events haven't even required extreme heat — just notably warm days hitting a system with no slack. Data center load growth is eating the margin that used to carry us through summer peaks.
When a wartime law becomes a seasonal routine, the grid isn't holding. It's being held together. And that distinction matters for every energy stock, every utility rate case, and every data center permit still in the queue.
• WIRED IN
Signals From the Wire
Quanta Services (PWR) priced $2 billion in senior notes on Monday — $500M due 2029, $750M due 2033, $750M due 2036. The proceeds go toward general corporate purposes, including paying down commercial paper. When the biggest grid builder in America raises $2 billion in fresh debt, it's not
NuScale Power (SMR) reports Q2 results after the close today. The stock trades near $9 — down roughly 50% this year. Wall Street expects revenue of about $9 million to $12 million. The market wants an update on the 6 GW TVA deal. More on NuScale in Voltage below.
Oregon may be next. Four Democratic lawmakers proposed a three-year moratorium on new large data centers yesterday. If passed, Oregon would join at least 15 other states that have proposed pauses on data center builds in the past year. That's a long list that keeps growing.
Farmville, North Carolina, voted unanimously Monday for a 12-month data center moratorium. A small town — but it fits a pattern. Data Center Watch says at least 75 projects were blocked or delayed in Q1 2026 alone. That roughly matches all of 2025.
The money is pouring in at the top (Quanta's $2B), still thin in the middle (NuScale's ~$10M revenue), and getting blocked at the bottom (Oregon, Farmville). The energy buildout isn't slowing — it's splitting into winners and losers.
• VOLTAGE
NuScale Reports Tonight. The Stock Tells You Everything.
Last September, NuScale Power's stock hit $47 a share. The Tennessee Valley Authority had just signed a deal with NuScale's partner ENTRA1 to develop 6 GW of small modular reactors. The nuclear future had arrived.
Today the stock trades near $9.
NuScale reports Q2 after the bell today. Analysts expect revenue of about $9 million to $12 million and a loss of $0.13 per share. In Q1, revenue came in at just $0.6 million — down from $13.4 million a year earlier.
The company has an NRC-approved reactor design. It has a 6 GW pipeline with TVA. CFO Ramsey Hamady said in May he expects a power purchase agreement by year-end. But expectations and cash flow are two different things. The market cap sits near $3 billion for a company generating almost no revenue.
Compare that to Quanta, up 63% this year. Or Eaton, up 38%. Those companies build and wire the grid today. NuScale promises to power it tomorrow.
Investors are paying for shovels, not blueprints. Until NuScale turns its TVA deal into a signed contract with real cash attached, the stock stays stuck in the gap between nuclear hype and nuclear reality.
