Moiseus Infrastructure Brief — No. 12
Every week we cut the noise to a handful of stories that matter — and add what they mean from where we sit. This is our read, not a news wire.
Texas softens the price of admission for large loads
The Public Utility Commission of Texas adopted its large-load interconnection rule on Sept. 18, dropping the $50,000-per-MW non-refundable interconnection fee it had proposed in March in favor of a flat $100,000 study fee for all large load customers, and extending energization milestone deadlines.
States are still calibrating how much capital a developer must commit before a single electron flows. Texas blinked on the upfront charge, but the direction of travel everywhere is the same: queue positions get more expensive to hold, and speculative filings get squeezed out.
Microsoft keeps the door open to fighting Virginia’s direct-assignment order
After the Virginia State Corporation Commission ruled on July 31 that Dominion must directly assign certain transmission costs to large-load customers, Microsoft filed a notice of appeal with the state Supreme Court on Aug. 28 — not an appeal itself, the company says, but a way to preserve its right to challenge how the decision is implemented. Dominion’s amended policy is due in October.
The hyperscalers are no longer arguing about whether they pay for the wires — they are arguing about the formula. Every jurisdiction that shifts substation and transmission cost onto the load makes already-interconnected, already-paid-for capacity worth more than the same megawatts on paper.
The interconnection rulebook was written for generators, not gigawatt loads
NERC’s own Large Loads Working Group concluded in a March 2026 gap assessment that existing standards and interconnection practices are inadequate for emerging large loads — this against a 2025 long-term outlook projecting roughly 224 GW of summer peak demand growth over the decade, about 69% more than the year-earlier forecast, driven mostly by AI data centers.
A campus that draws a power plant’s worth of load but answers to none of a power plant’s obligations is a standards gap, and gaps close in one direction: more studies, more modeling, more performance requirements. Assume tomorrow’s load looks more like a generator on the paperwork.
Existing gas plants change hands as the load-growth M&A cycle accelerates
Constellation agreed to buy the 609-MW Rhode Island State Energy Center from Shell for $715 million, while Shell separately picked up 169 MW of Pennsylvania gas capacity serving PJM. PwC counts power-sector M&A up 173% year over year to $216 billion in the first half of 2026.
When new capacity takes years and a turbine slot is booked out to the 2030s, the fastest way to own dispatchable power is to buy something already running and already connected. That repricing of existing, interconnected assets is the clearest tell of scarcity we track.
A data-center developer raises $3.9B — partly to build compute you can truck to the power
Crusoe closed a $3.9 billion Series F at a $30.9 billion valuation, funding both its large Abilene, Texas campus and smaller modular “AI factories” that can be transported by truck and connected to large power sources almost anywhere.
Capital is voting for mobility: if the grid will not bring power to the compute on a workable timeline, move the compute to the power. That only sharpens the premium on sites where firm, deliverable electricity already exists.
Regulators are still writing the rules, hyperscalers are still contesting the bill, and capital is not waiting for either: the scarce thing remains land with firm, interconnected power — and the patience to hold it while the rulebook catches up. That is exactly where Moiseus Capital looks.
This material is for general informational purposes only. It is market commentary and reflects our own views. It is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security, and it is not investment advice. Moiseus Capital Corp is not currently offering securities. Third-party headlines are summarized and attributed to their sources; all trademarks belong to their respective owners.