David Roberts
Writer of the Substack Sparks From Culture; zealous fan of my family, my Shih Tzu, all things Substack, NYC (lifelong resident); forty year career in finance, n...
“A lot of people think there's a bubble. A lot of people think the bubble is going to pop at some point. What I keep seeing over and over again is, let's get useful policies passed and useful steel in the ground with their money before the bubble pops, because that stuff will last. That stuff will still be there after the bubble pops. So make data centers pay.”
Volts · Climate & Energy · November 2026
Context
The two were discussing what states can do to cut energy bills. Roberts said data centers are rich and in a hurry, and that states should make them fund grid upgrades while the money is there.
Transcript
…but like there's just a thicket. The federal permitting bill is one thing. We don't have to get into that, but like there are all these state permitting state environmental laws, local permitting laws. States have their hands on a ton of that stuff. I would love to see some real attention on that.
…if they lead on it, they can do good things. I mean, think about a public service commission. You can remove the cap on rooftop solar. You can change net metering so that people actually are paid back for the value they contribute to the grid. There's all of these pieces that I think DH. Change the
ways you accredit batteries. There's a lot of wonky stuff that can be done. You know, we already talked about data centers, but of course, like data centers are rich. They're in a hurry, as I've said a million times. Get them to pay for stuff. Amy Acton in Ohio, who just won the governorship, has said she wants to pass a moratorium at data centers unless they cover 100% of their utility costs. So deep pockets, eager to get on the grid and willing to pay for grid upgrades. I won't pound this table again. I'll just say, like, I think a lot of people think there's a bubble. A lot of people think the bubble is going to pop at some point. What I keep seeing over and over again is let's get useful policies passed and useful steel in the ground with their money before the bubble pops because that stuff will last. That stuff will still be there after the bubble pops. So like make data centers pay.
And I love that you brought up battery capacity rules. Batteries are undervalued. And a lot of how our states have written the regulation, you need to value batteries for what they're doing with the grid right now. It's incredible. Battery capacity rules, number one on any lawmakers list. And some…
And I think there's enough good, right-thinking governors in PJM now that they can team up and force some PJM reform too. That ought to be on the docket. The other side of my worry on this is that the amount of pressure, like there's a ton of pressure on this, and there's a lot of new legislators…
Just know that the short-term fixes are not going to solve even the medium-term needs looking out two years into the future or the long-term. That'll be the challenge of every new lawmaker: people need short-term, combine it with medium and long-term. Otherwise, we'll just end up right back here…
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