What emergency auction is proposed by the Trump administration for power plants?
Here is your Morning Brief for Friday, January 16th. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal. The Trump administration is set to propose that America's largest grid operator, PJM, hold an emergency auction in which tech companies would bid on 15-year contracts for new power plants.
That would effectively formalize a bring-your-own-power approach to data center construction that's already taken hold across much of the U.S., and which the administration has begun to embrace.
In October, Energy Secretary Chris Wright instructed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to draft rules giving it oversight of how giant data centers connect to the grid, a process typically overseen by states.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has presented President Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize.
The gesture came during a visit to the White House yesterday, but Machado emerged with no public backing from Trump. Instead, the Trump administration has said it would continue to work with Venezuela's acting president, Delce Rodriguez, who was Nicolas Maduro's deputy.
Trump celebrated the prize on social media, but the Nobel Committee has previously clarified that the award can't be transferred to another person.
And Norway's Equinor has been given the green light to resume work on its massive Empire Wind project off of Long Island.
A federal judge ruled that harm to the company stemming from a construction halt ordered by the Trump administration outweighed national security concerns outlined by the government. The Interior Department, which oversees wind projects, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Asian stocks have end-of-the-day mixed, European stocks are mostly lower in midday trading, and U.S.
stock futures are gaining ahead of the market open. And we've got a lot more coverage of the day's news on the WSJ's What's News podcast. You can add it to your playlist on your smart speaker or listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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