Arkansas Judge Rejects Entergy Bid To Block Reporting On Google Data Center Power Deal

According to CNBC, an Arkansas federal judge denied Entergy Arkansas's request for a temporary restraining order to stop the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette from publishing more details from confidential documents tied to the utility's role in building power infrastructure for a $4 billion Google data center in the state. Judge Lee Rudofsky also declined to order the newspaper to remove information already posted online, and a court filing showed he plans to set a briefing schedule later on Entergy's request for a preliminary injunction. The Democrat-Gazette reported that Google will pay Entergy Arkansas $526 million for a solar facility to supply the West Memphis data center, with the payment covering about one-third of the $1.6 billion cost of the Cypress Solar project. The article said the project includes a 600-megawatt solar field and a 350-megawatt battery facility, and noted that Arkansas regulators approved a special rate contract between Google and Entergy in December. Entergy said in a court filing that the documents contained trade secrets and highly sensitive information that were disclosed in error, while Google said it is committed to covering 100% of the power and infrastructure costs for the project.