• THE GRID
Norway Just Pulled the Plug on Data Centers
Eight hundred megawatts. That's how much data center power Norway has on its grid right now. It sounds small. It is small.
But the queue tells a wild story. Over 31,000 megawatts of data center requests have piled up. That's nearly 40 times what's already connected. On November 9, grid operator Statnett froze all new capacity reservations for data centers. No new deals until August 2027 at the latest.
Why? Because Norway looked at the math and got scared.
Ninety percent of those data centers are owned by foreign firms. The government said it would roll out a new license system. Only projects that serve real local needs will get priority. Crypto mining? Excluded outright.
Norway DC Connected
800 MW
|
Norway DC Requested
31,000 MW
|
U.S. 2026 Demand (EIA)
4,306B kWh
|
U.S. 2027 Demand (EIA)
4,370B kWh
|
By the end of this month, Elon Musk is about to shock the world again.
And will unleash enough wealth to make every household in America $2.38 million.
Norway isn't alone. Iceland has started curbing data center power too. And here in the U.S., the EIA just released its November outlook. Power demand is set to hit 4,306 billion kWh this year. That's a record. Next year climbs to 4,370 billion. Third straight year of all-time highs.
"We are seeing demand growth that we have not witnessed in two decades, and it is happening faster than new generation and transmission can be built."
Moura is right. And the global picture makes it worse. Rich countries that once welcomed data centers — cool climates, cheap hydro, stable grids — are slamming the door. Norway's freeze is the clearest signal yet.
The U.S. still has the most capacity. But states are restricting too. Goldman Sachs says states likely to limit data centers hold 45% of planned U.S. capacity.
So data center builders face a shrinking map. More demand. Fewer outlets. That's the setup for 2027.
Every country that freezes grid access pushes more pressure onto the grids still open. The power wall is no longer American. It's global.
How A $2.80 Play Turned Into Nearly $500k Nest Egg
In February 2017, I called my father and told him to buy Nvidia.
Back then, most of his friends still called it “that video game company.”
It was going for just $2.80 split adjusted....
Today his stake is worth almost $500,000 — a gain of more than 7,000%.
Why am I telling you this?
Because right now, I’m making the same kind of call.
And this time, I’m letting you in on it too.
• BLACKOUT WATCH
Three Cracks Nobody Wants to Talk About
I read three things this morning. A bank’s note. A FERC docket. A two-year-old Gartner warning. They never mention each other. But they’re telling the same story.
Capital Economics says AI capex drops 10% in 2028. Their chief economic adviser, Vicky Redwood, estimates about $800 billion of AI capital spending in 2026. That rises to $1 trillion in 2027. Then it falls. A 10% drop in 2028 would pull 0.1% from GDP. She sees the S&P 500 ending 2027 about 12% below today's level. If she's right, the grid buildout loses its biggest funders right when it needs them most.
FERC's first deadline lands in four days. Five of six U.S. regional grid operators must file compliance plans by November 16, with the Southwest Power Pool following by November 20. They got show-cause orders in June. They asked for 90 more days. They got them. Now the clock is up. These filings will shape how data centers connect to the grid for years. And not one operator has shown its hand yet.
Gartner's 2024 forecast is arriving on schedule. They predicted 40% of AI data centers would be power-constrained by 2027. We're a month and a half away. Site selection has already shifted from fiber and land cost to one thing: who has a live grid connection? The bottleneck isn't chips anymore. It's plugs.
The market is pricing AI spending as a straight line up. Capital Economics, FERC's deadline, and the Gartner power wall all say that line bends — soon.
• RESISTANCE
Wisconsin Bills Are Up 33%. Regulators Just Said "Enough."
A woman in Milwaukee told the Wisconsin Public Service Commission she can't do it anymore. Five rate hikes since 2020. Now a sixth.
She's a We Energies customer. Her bill has gone up 33% since 2022. That's according to the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin.
Last week the PSC did something rare. It pushed back. Commissioners cut We Energies' rate of return from 9.8% to 9.5%. They trimmed the proposed hike from 4.6% to 3.9% for 2027 and from 4.5% to 3.5% for 2028.
We Energies: 6th straight rate hike approved — but scaled back. Bills up 33% since 2022. We Energies has the 3rd-highest residential electric rates among Midwest investor-owned utilities.
PSO (Oklahoma): 3.55% permanent rate hike starts in December. Originally asked for 15%. Residential customers won't get refunds for months of interim charges they already paid.
Commissioner Kristy Nieto called We Energies one of the most profitable utilities in the country. She's not wrong. The utility expects a 40% spike in energy demand by 2032. Data centers are the driver.
Meanwhile, incoming Wisconsin Democratic leaders said they'll push new data center guardrails when they take power in January. No moratorium — but new rules.
In Oklahoma, the story is simpler and uglier. PSO got its 3.55% hike. Residential customers had been paying interim rates since July. Industrial customers get a refund. Homeowners don't. The commission also approved a new large-load tariff — a separate rate class for any customer drawing over 75 megawatts.
Regulators are drawing the same line in every state: data centers pay their own way, or they don't get to build.
