Sections of large grey-green steel pipe lie end to end on wooden blocks beside a dirt track running straight through harvested fields toward the horizon, with a yellow excavator standing by the line under a cloudy evening sky.

Power

Trump Tells Data Centers to Make Their Own Power

Trump wrote that large new data centers are “mandated by me” to make their own power, citing no order; an AI lab is already lining up 1.2 gigawatts.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 — President Trump wrote early Wednesday that new and large data centers are “mandated by me to make their own electricity,” though the post cited no order and Daily Cortex found no new order to that effect in the federal sources it checked early Thursday. They should “give or sell any excess back to the local community, or grid,” he wrote on Truth Social at 1:37 a.m. Eastern time.

Companies that want their data centers to be popular, he added, should “pay the community, and/or individuals within the community, a ‘dividend.’” And: “MAKE DEALS, and get them built!!!”

The sources Daily Cortex checked were the Federal Register, the White House’s presidential actions and releases, and the Energy Department’s newsroom. What the record does hold is a pledge. On March 4, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI signed the White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, agreeing to “build, bring, or buy” new generation for their data centers and to pay for grid upgrades, and a proclamation that day declared that the pledge and its commitments “effectuate the national policy of the United States.” The pledge lets companies buy power from new plants rather than make it themselves. Experts said then that it was likely not enforceable at the federal level, the Associated Press reported; electricity is regulated mostly by the states. In July the White House said more than 200 more utilities, data-center developers, cooperatives and states had joined.

The business is already being sold. On Wednesday, Liberty Energy, a Denver company that runs frac fleets for oil and gas producers, said its power arm had signed a development agreement with an unnamed “leading frontier AI lab” and an infrastructure platform for 1.2 gigawatts of power services at data-center campuses. The agreement includes “a significant prepayment of capacity fees,” Liberty said; it aims to sign the first contract, for about 500 megawatts, by December, and to switch the power on in phases from late 2027 to early 2029. Co-location, Liberty argued, “can reduce pressure on existing grid infrastructure and limit the need for costly transmission investment, helping mitigate impacts on local ratepayers and communities.”Liberty’s QuarterLiberty reported third-quarter revenue of $1.2 billion, up 26 percent from a year earlier, and a net loss of $39 million. Its conference call is at 10 a.m. Eastern on Thursday.

NextEra Energy, of Juno Beach, Fla., said its NextEra Energy Resources unit had signed definitive agreements for three “federal hub” projects, two in Texas and one in Pennsylvania, totaling about 16.5 gigawatts, which it expects to develop, build and operate “for fees without investing capital.”The HubsNextEra’s release does not define a federal hub or name the hubs’ customers. It says the unit has secured $5.7 billion in initial funding this year and is discussing 30 potential hubs, a number it expects to rise to 40 by year-end. It also agreed to sell about 1 gigawatt from its Point Beach nuclear plant in Wisconsin for 20 years to an unnamed buyer, pending the state’s approval.

Kinder Morgan, the Houston pipeline company, said its natural gas project backlog had reached $13.2 billion, the largest in its history; more than 75 percent of its $14.4 billion total backlog is tied to power generation and local gas distributors. It approved two more phases of a Central Texas pipeline, the Creekside Lateral, after signing “additional long-term, take-or-pay agreements with data center and industrial customers.”

PJM Interconnection consults its members on Thursday morning about its backstop power procurement, whose cost its staff proposes to allocate by each zone’s growth in large loads; it plans to file tariff changes with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Oct. 29.

The gainers are the builders of power beside the load and the owners of contracted pipe; in Liberty’s and Kinder Morgan’s deals, the customers pay, through prepaid fees and take-or-pay contracts, and Mr. Trump would have them pay the neighbors a “dividend,” too. GE Vernova, which said in July that it expected at least 125 gigawatts of gas equipment under contract by year-end, reports its third quarter on Oct. 28.

Sources

  1. Trump’s Truth (archive of Truth Social), “Donald J. Trump, Truth Social post of Oct. 21, 2026, 1:37 a.m. EDT (status 117477279556215047),” Oct. 21, 2026.
  2. Fox News, “Trump demands data centers make their own power, pay community ‘dividends’,” Oct. 21, 2026.
  3. Liberty Energy (SEC Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1), “Liberty Energy Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2026 Financial and Operational Results,” Oct. 21, 2026.
  4. NextEra Energy (SEC Form 8-K, Exhibit 99), “NextEra Energy reports third-quarter 2026 financial results,” Oct. 21, 2026.
  5. Kinder Morgan (SEC Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1), “Kinder Morgan Reports Record Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results,” Oct. 21, 2026.
  6. PJM Interconnection, “Tariff, Section 9.2(b) Stakeholder Consultation of Upcoming 205 Filing on Reliability Backstop Procurement (Special Members Committee),” Oct. 22, 2026.
  7. PJM Interconnection, “Special Members Committee agenda, Oct. 22, 2026,” Oct. 15, 2026.
  8. The White House, “Ratepayer Protection Pledge Proclamation,” March 4, 2026.
  9. The White House, “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” March 4, 2026.
  10. The White House, “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Advances Energy Affordability with the Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” March 4, 2026.
  11. The White House, “President Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge Secures American AI Dominance, Protects Consumers,” July 23, 2026.
  12. The Associated Press (via The Boston Globe), “Trump says deal on data centers will lower electricity costs, but offers few details,” March 4, 2026.
  13. Federal Register, “Presidential documents.”
  14. The White House, “Presidential Actions.”
  15. The White House, “News.”
  16. U.S. Department of Energy, “Newsroom.”
  17. GE Vernova (SEC Form 8-K, Exhibit 99), “GE Vernova reports second quarter 2026 financial results and raises 2026 financial guidance,” July 22, 2026.
  18. GE Vernova, “GE Vernova to announce third quarter 2026 financial results on October 28,” Oct. 13, 2026.