Thursday, 9 July 2026

The MSX pipeline would carry up to 2.1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas across 199 miles from Greenville, Mississippi to Butler, Alabama at an estimated cost of USD 1.7 billion, according to IEEFA. IEEFA argues the demand forecasts behind the project and a companion line lean on overstated data center growth.

The second project, SSE4, would add about 1.3 bcf/day of capacity on the Southern Natural Gas Company's South Main Line at an estimated USD 3.5 billion, according to IEEFA. Both lines are proposed to enter service in late 2028, according to IEEFA.

Utilities have locked in most of the capacity ahead of construction. Atlanta Gas Light, Dominion Energy South Carolina, Southern Company Services, Oglethorpe Power, and the Tennessee Valley Authority hold contracts for more than 90% of the MSX pipeline's capacity, according to IEEFA. For SSE4, Dominion Energy South Carolina, Southern Company, and Oglethorpe Power have contracted for more than 98% of the capacity, according to IEEFA.

IEEFA disputes the underlying growth assumptions. Natural gas demand in the southeast fell by an average of 0.78% a year between 2017 and 2025, with peak demand spikes variable rather than trending upward, according to IEEFA.

IEEFA states that Kinder Morgan's projections of data center-driven electricity demand growth in the southeast run significantly higher than those of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the regulatory body focused on grid reliability.

The Consumer Liaison Group met June 2 in Lowell, Massachusetts, to examine data center growth on the New England power system, according to ISO New England Newswire.

David Lapp, people's counsel for Maryland, delivered a closing keynote featuring insights from the PJM Interconnection region, where data center growth has been highly concentrated, according to ISO New England Newswire.

Eric Johnson, ISO New England's executive director of External Affairs, gave an overview of the 2025 Annual Markets Report, according to ISO New England Newswire. The report was issued by the ISO's Internal Market Monitor in May, ISO New England Newswire reported.

During a panel, Victoria Rojo, supervisor of load forecasting at ISO-NE, discussed new components of the 2026 Forecast Report of Capacity, Energy, Loads, and Transmission, according to ISO New England Newswire.

The next Consumer Liaison Group meeting is scheduled for September 24 in Portland, Maine, and will focus on energy storage and its role in supporting reliability and integrating renewable resources into the New England power system, according to ISO New England Newswire.

OpenAI unveiled a custom inference chip called Jalapeño earlier this week, according to Semafor.

Semafor reports that by designing a custom chip, OpenAI can bring down the cost of serving its models to consumers.

OpenAI has gobbled up more compute than Anthropic, Semafor reports. Anthropic is now partnered with SpaceX for compute resources, according to Semafor.