Stories You May Have Missed This Week: EV, Charging & Intelligent Electrification Roundup (08/26/26 Edition)
By Keith Reynolds | Publisher & Editor, ChargedUp!
6,831 megawatts. That is how far PJM's latest capacity auction fell short of its own reliability target, even after clearing at a record price cap. Every pillar below traces back to the same underlying fact: power access has become the binding constraint on how fast the built environment can grow, and this week's stories show utilities, states, and owners each answering that constraint differently.
Grid Stress, Storms & Resilience Economics
Utility Regulators Widen the Lens on What Counts as Resilience Spending
Utility Dive examines how climate-related risk is changing the case for grid resilience investment beyond storm hardening alone, suggesting utilities and regulators will need to evaluate rate cases through broader reliability and infrastructure-risk lenses rather than treating resilience spending as emergency recovery after major weather events.
American Transmission Co. Advances Central Wisconsin Grid Upgrade
American Transmission Co. is rebuilding and expanding 345-kV transmission infrastructure in central Wisconsin under a MISO-approved plan, with the first transmission structure now installed. The project is part of broader regional transmission planning aimed at long-term reliability, the kind of infrastructure buildout that determines how much new load a region can absorb over the next decade.
Weather Monitoring Technology Gets a Bigger Stage at T&D World Live
Western Weather Group plans to demonstrate wildfire, storm, and grid-reliability monitoring technology at T&D World Live 2026, part of a growing utility market for field sensors that improve situational awareness ahead of extreme weather events.
Electrification Economics at the Property Level
Avison Young Converts Debt to Equity to Fund a Data Center and Conversion Push
Avison Young announced an August 18 recapitalization converting most of its debt into equity, expected to close in October, giving lenders roughly half the company and cutting debt and preferred equity by about 70%. CEO Mark Rose said the restructuring will redirect cash from interest payments toward acquisitions, including office-to-residential conversions and data centers.
Apollo Global Management Deepens Its Bet on Distributed Energy Infrastructure
Apollo Global Management's participation in the Illinois tax equity deal covered in this issue's fourth feature reflects a broader push into energy transition financing, with analysts flagging the transaction as a signal of Apollo's growing interest in sustainable infrastructure platforms as an asset class.
Duke Energy Executives Quantify the Capex Upside From Data Center Growth
Duke Energy executives outlined the capital expenditure upside large-load growth could bring to utility investment plans, part of a broader set of utility business updates that also touched on Sempra's comments on Oncor's outlook and Algonquin's planned headquarters move to Chicago.
T&D World: Utility Business Notes, Duke Executives Quantify Data Center Capex Upside
Duke Energy Investors: Data center growth will deliver billions in customer savings
Solar + Storage + VPPs
Enphase Opens Preorders for Its First U.S. Commercial Battery
Enphase Energy opened U.S. preorders for the IQ Battery C80, its first commercial battery storage system, with shipments expected in the first half of 2027. The AC-coupled, LFP-chemistry system delivers 80 kilowatt-hours of capacity and up to 40 kVA of continuous power, supports 208V and 480V configurations, and carries a 15-year limited warranty.
Dimension Energy Secures $857 Million for Distributed Solar Growth
Dimension Energy secured $857 million in new capital, including a $200 million corporate credit facility upsize and $657 million in construction-to-term debt and tax equity, to fund 29 distributed solar projects totaling 149 megawatts across five states.
Dimension Energy: Dimension Energy Secures $857 Million in Additional Capital
Mercom Capital: Dimension Energy Secures $857 Million for Distributed Solar Growth
Swiss Industrial Site Turns Battery Storage Into a Revenue Line
BESS Perlen AG, a joint venture between Perlen Industrieholding AG and the Valyou Investment Foundation, is installing a 10 MW/20 MWh battery energy storage system at the Perlen Papier paper mill in Switzerland, supplied by ADS-TEC Energy. Commissioning is planned for the end of 2026, with the system initially focused on ancillary services before participating in day-ahead and intraday electricity markets, a model industrial owners elsewhere should watch as a template for turning storage from a cost center into a market participant.
Policy + Market Rules
FERC Directs PJM to Revise Its Tariff to Speed Data Center Interconnection
FERC directed PJM Interconnection to revise its tariff to support faster development tied to data center demand, continuing a pattern of federal regulatory attention to how large new loads are integrated into regional power markets and grid planning frameworks.
FERC Sets a Year-End Deadline for Data Center Reliability Criteria
FERC set an accelerated timeline for addressing grid reliability risks tied to data centers and other large computational loads, directing the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) to develop registration criteria for such loads by the end of the year.
E&E News: FERC sets speedy timeline to address data centers' risks to grid reliability
NERC: FERC sets year-end deadline for NERC to finalize registry criteria and standards
UK Weighs Softening Its EV Sales Mandate Despite Rising EV Sales
The UK government launched an August 14 consultation on possibly relaxing its electric vehicle sales rules, even as EV sales rise, oil costs climb, and wildfire concerns mount, a policy debate that will shape vehicle availability and charging demand forecasts for UK-facing fleet and property operators.
Local Governance & Federal Policy
New Jersey's Data Center Fair Share Act Locks In Cost Commitments
New Jersey's Data Center Fair Share Act, signed July 7, 2026, requires facilities of 50 megawatts or larger to commit to paying at least 85% of their projected power costs for a decade, a binding version of the ratepayer protection concept the federal government's March pledge left voluntary.
Virginia Adds a First-of-Its-Kind Data Center Energy Consumption Tax
Virginia ended a months-long budget standoff on June 30 by retaining its data center sales tax exemption while adding a new $0.011 per kilowatt-hour energy consumption tax on data centers, capped at $600 million annually, a hybrid approach that keeps the tax incentive while directly pricing grid impact.
New York's Statewide Moratorium Bill Awaits the Governor's Signature
New York's legislature passed the Responsible Data Center Development Act on June 4, 2026, which would impose a one-year moratorium on new permits for large data centers of 20 megawatts or more along with separate rate classes and impact studies. As of this summer, Gov. Kathy Hochul had not signed or vetoed the bill, leaving the state's largest projects in limbo.
EV Charging in Real Places
Exicom Begins Producing Liquid-Cooled Charger Power Modules in India
Exicom has begun manufacturing liquid-cooled AC and DC power modules for EV chargers at its Hyderabad Smart Manufacturing Facility, the first Indian facility to produce this class of power electronics for global markets. Initial modules will serve Tritium's DC charger portfolio, including TRI-FLEX and DC-FLEX, in North America and Europe, with later integration planned for Exicom's own Harmony DC chargers.
Edmond, Oklahoma Adds Public Charging at City Hall Parking Garage
Edmond added new EV charging stations at its City Hall Parking Garage that can serve up to six vehicles at once, priced at $0.25 per kilowatt-hour, expanding public charging access in downtown Edmond as part of the city's affordable transportation strategy.
Virginia Tech Expands Campus Charging at Perry Street Garage
Virginia Tech added two new EV charging stations on level one of the Perry Street Parking Garage on its Blacksburg campus, expanding charging access as part of the university's parking and transportation services.
WestLight Energy Retrofits Low-Cost Charging Into 200-Plus California Apartments
WestLight Energy completed a large multifamily EV charging retrofit in California, providing low-cost overnight charging access for more than 200 apartment residents, a scalable model for owners looking to add charging without a full electrical-service upgrade.
Vietnam's Prime Minister Pushes Apartment Charging Onto the National Agenda
Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh issued a March 31 directive ordering ministries and localities to accelerate EV charging infrastructure in apartment buildings, with technical standards due later this year. The directive is a reminder that multifamily charging is becoming a global capital-planning issue, not just a US and European one, even as it falls outside this week's coverage window.
EV Market Signals
Used EV Sales Keep Climbing on Affordability
Used EV sales rose again in July, up 7.7% month over month and 10.1% year over year according to Cox Automotive data, with used EVs holding closer to price parity with comparable gasoline vehicles than new EVs, helping sustain demand after federal EV tax credits ended.
China's July EV Share Hits a Record 44%
Battery-electric vehicles reached a record 44% of China's July sales, with plug-in vehicles combined reaching 65%, while petrol model sales fell 44% for the month, a pace of adoption that continues to outstrip the US and European markets.
Nevada's EV Growth Puts Apartment Charging on the Radar
Nevada's EV market continues to grow, and local reporting points to apartment charging access as the next constraint on adoption, connecting vehicle registration growth directly to multifamily property infrastructure planning.
New-Vehicle Prices Hit a 2026 High as the Market Slows
New-vehicle transaction prices climbed to $49,855 in July, the highest level of 2026, according to Kelley Blue Book data from Cox Automotive, while overall sales fell 1.5% year over year as buyers migrated toward lower-priced vehicles, a backdrop worth tracking for anyone underwriting charging utilization against affordability trends.
Data Center Demand & Innovation
PJM's Load Forecast Puts a Number on the Data Center Wave
PJM's 2025 Long-Term Load Forecast projects 32 gigawatts of peak load growth between 2024 and 2030, with all but 2 gigawatts coming from data centers, the underlying demand curve behind this week's capacity auction shortfall and new large-load rules covered in this issue's lead feature.
Pennsylvania Ties Data Center Permitting to New Performance Standards
Pennsylvania's Executive Order 2026-05 requires data center developers to demonstrate local government approval and meet energy, environmental, workforce, and community standards before receiving state permitting and tax benefits, a model other states are likely to study as they weigh their own frameworks.
