Loudoun County, the heart of Northern Virginia’s Data Center Alley, advanced a 12-month pause on new legislative data center and substation applications on September 16, 2026.

The 7-1-1 Board of Supervisors vote directs staff to draft a resolution for a later October vote, with a proposed retroactive effective date of September 15. Officials emphasized it is not a legal moratorium under Virginia’s Dillon Rule, but a temporary pause on board-level reviews while Phase 2 data-center standards are completed. Board Chair Phyllis […]

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Continental Resources signed a memorandum of understanding with Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) on September 16 to operate and develop the Ayacucho 2 Block in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt, marking the Oklahoma independent’s first move into the country and adding another U.S. operator to a rapidly expanding slate of post-sanctions oil deals.

The MOU is not a final development contract. Continental and PDVSA said they intend to convert it into a long-term Contrato de Participación Productiva (CPP) in the coming weeks. Once that agreement is signed, Continental would operate the block with a 100% working interest. The announcement was made in Houston during the G20 energy ministers […]

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Why Alaska Matters, Energy Independence, Critical Minerals, and National Security

Bernadette Wilson, Alaska Republican for Governor, stops by the Energy News Beat Podcast. Alaska is not a remote afterthought. It is one of the United States’ most strategically important resource bases for energy security, defense-critical minerals, and food supply. For two decades, its oil output declined as legacy North Slope fields matured and new projects […]

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South Korea’s Hyosung Heavy Industries has locked in ₩386.5 billion (about $277–$287 million) in ultra-high-voltage transformer contracts with two unnamed U.S. Big Tech companies for new AI data centers—one in the South and one in the North.

The award is smaller than some of Hyosung’s earlier 2026 utility mega-deals, but it is strategically important: hyperscalers are now buying grid hardware directly, and Hyosung is one of the few firms that can deliver 765 kV equipment from a U.S. factory. The split is ₩220 billion of 765 kV transformers for the southern site […]

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