Data Center Counsel provides practical legal guidance for developers, operators, investors and in-house legal teams navigating data center development and co-located power infrastructure. Hosted by Bracewell partners Jared Berg and Bryan Clark, the podcast examines the legal, financial and regulatory issues shaping data center and digital infrastructure projects.
Topics include power procurement and interconnection, energy and utilities regulation, project finance, siting and permitting, and federal and state compliance.
Drawing on Bracewell’s deep industry knowledge and experience, each episode focuses on how stakeholders can structure, finance and operate data centers in a fast-moving business and regulatory environment.
Brownfield Data Centers: Environmental Due Diligence and Liability
Brownfield redevelopment is emerging as a strategic data center siting option, but it comes with significant environmental law considerations. In this episode of the Data Center Counsel podcast, Jared Berg is joined by Bracewell's Jason Hutt and Daniel Pope to discuss brownfield redevelopment as a strategy for siting data centers. They explore what makes former industrial sites attractive, including existing power infrastructure, water access and proximity to the grid, as well as the environmental liabilities associated with legacy properties.
The conversation examines how developers can conduct environmental due diligence, navigate brownfield programs that provide liability protections, manage post-closing obligations and structure transactions to allocate contamination risk appropriately.
The episode also covers community and government engagement, water scarcity issues in Texas, the potential use of produced water for data center cooling and key federal and state policy developments developers should monitor.
26 May 2026
Data Center Project Finance: How to Structure a Financeable Deal
Data center demand is booming, but getting a project financed is harder than it looks. In this episode of Data Center Counsel, Jared Berg sits down with Jeeseon Ahn, Jared Joyce-Schleimer and Jason Lewis to break down what it actually takes to make a data center project financeable in today’s market.
Their conversation covers the financing structures being used for data center development — from traditional project finance and private credit to private placements, ABS and CMBS. They also dig into what lenders require from offtake agreements, lease terms and power
arrangements to get a deal done.
They also examine how lenders assess construction risk, project-on-project risk and GPU obsolescence, as well as behind-the-meter power solutions, interconnection delays and the growing role of hyperscalers in supporting data center and generation projects.
25 Mar 2026
FERC and Interconnectivity Issues for Data Centers
In this episode of the Data Center Counsel podcast, Jared Berg and Bryan Clark are joined by Josh Robichaud for a discussion of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in data center
development.
Josh explains FERC’s role in regulating wholesale power markets and interstate transmission through regional transmission organizations and independent system operators, while states maintain authority over generation siting and retail electricity sales. The discussion also highlights emerging policy reforms, including a US Department of Energy directive asking FERC to consider standardized processes for large-load interconnections and approaches to allocating grid upgrade costs associated with new data center demand.
2 Mar 2026
Can Nuclear Power the Cloud? Baseload Energy Options for Data Centers
In this episode of Bracewell’s Data Center Counsel podcast, Scott Segal and Andrew Shaw explore whether nuclear energy can meet the rapidly growing electricity demands of AI-driven data centers. As hyperscale facilities transform electricity demand into a system-level challenge, the discussion examines why nuclear — both large light water reactors and small modular reactors (SMRs) — is uniquely positioned to provide firm, carbon-free baseload power.
The conversation covers a range of topics, including:
the operational alignment between
nuclear generation and high-load data centers emerging partnerships between tech companies and nuclear operators
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing reforms
fuel supply constraints
safety considerations
23 Feb 2026
Beyond the Usual Suspects: Emerging US Markets for Data Centers
In this episode of the Data Center Counsel podcast, Scott Segal and Tamara McKinzie examine the shifting geography of US data center development. What was once concentrated in traditional hubs like Northern Virginia is rapidly expanding into rural and emerging markets across Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota and parts of the Southeast.
Scott and Tamara look at the drivers behind this migration — including land availability, speed to power, regulatory certainty and grid reliability — as well as the growing pushback from communities concerned about energy prices, water usage and land preservation. They discuss the growing importance of regulatory certainty, land-use considerations and affordable electricity as communities evaluate the potential impacts of large-load development.
17 Feb 2026
Powering Growth: Utility Challenges Facing Data Centers
In this episode of the Data Center Counsel podcast, Jared Berg and Bryan Clark talk with Ted Duver about the regulatory forces driving data centers to develop on-site, behind-the-meter generation. They examine how long interconnection timelines, grid infrastructure constraints and evolving regulatory frameworks — particularly in PJM and ERCOT — are pushing developers toward greater control over power supply in pursuit of “speed to power” and Five 9s reliability.
The group compares ERCOT’s energy-only market and recent Senate Bill 6 reforms with more traditional ISO/RTO markets, highlighting regulatory uncertainty, cost allocation debates and the growing role of co-located generation.
9 Feb 2026
The Texas Legal and Regulatory Landscape for Data Center Development
The Data Center Counsel podcast returns for an episode on the evolving legal and regulatory framework governing large-load interconnections in Texas, with a focus on data centers and other energy-intensive facilities. Hosts Jared Berg and Bryan Clark examine how large-load projects have historically connected with the ERCOT grid and explain why a surge in speculative and overlapping interconnection requests has strained that process.
They dive into Texas Senate Bill 6, exploring how it seeks to standardize interconnection requirements, improve transparency, address cost allocation and enhance grid reliability following Winter Storm Uri. The conversation also examines emerging solutions that are poised to reshape how large loads plan, finance and secure power in Texas.
2 Feb 2026
Why Texas? Data Center Market Trends and Incentives
In the inaugural episode of the Data Center Counsel podcast, Bracewell partners Jared Berg and Bryan Clark discuss the factors contributing to extended large-load interconnection timelines in Texas and the implications for data center development. They provide an overview of how the growing demand for electricity — particularly from the oil and gas sector — has affected transmission capacity, generation availability and interconnection queues within the ERCOT system.
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