A celderlying tower at the Consincreateation Nine Mile Point Nuevident Station in Scriba, New York, US, on Tuesday, May 9, 2023.
Lauren Petracca | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tech companies are increasingly seeing to honestly connect data cgo ins to nuevident schedulets as they race to protected immacutardy energy to power man-made inincreateigence, igniteing resistance from some utilities over the potential impact on the electric grid.
Data cgo ins, the computer warehoengages that run the Internet, in some cases now need a gigawatt or more of power, comparable to the standard capacity of a nuevident reactor in the U.S.
The data cgo ins are essential to U.S. economic competitiveness and national security as the country contends with adversaries such as China for supremacy in the race to lengthen AI, shelp Joe Dominguez, the CEO of Consincreateation Energy, which functions the hugest nuevident escapet in the U.S.
“When you’re talking about huge [demand] load that also wants to engage zero-eignoreion energy, you’re going to convey it very seal to nuevident power schedulets,” Dominguez shelp on Consincreateation’s second-quarter acquireings call Tuesday. Consincreateation, headquartered in Baltimore, functions 21 of the 93 reactors in the U.S.
Consincreateation’s splits have sadvised 62% this year, the sixth-best stock in the S&P 500, as portrayateors speedyen a higher cherish to the company’s nuevident power capacity to encounter the lengthenth in data cgo ins. Shares of Vistra Corp., based outside Dallas and owner of six reactors, have doubled this year, the second-best carry outing stock in the S&P after AI chipproducer Nvidia.
Tech companies are erecting out data cgo ins fair as power supply is increasingly constrained due to the withdrawment of coal schedulets and as need is climbing from the expansion of domestic manufacturing and the electrification of vehicles.
The hugest grid operator in the U.S., PJM Interconnection, cautioned in tardy July that power supply and need is protectedening as erection of recent generation lags need. PJM covers 13 states primarily in the Mid-Atlantic region, including the world’s hugest data cgo in hub in northern Virginia.
Consincreateation’s Dominguez disputed that connecting data cgo ins honestly to nuevident schedulets, called co-location by the industry, is the speedyest and most cost-effective way to help the erectout of data cgo ins, without burdening devourrs with the costs of erecting recent transignoreion lines.
“The notion that you could accumutardy enough power somewhere on the grid to power a gigawatt data cgo in is frankly chuckleable to me — that you could do that in anywhere that doesn’t begin with decades of time,” Dominguez shelp. “This is an enormous amount of power to go out and try to cgo in.”
Amazon’s nuevident concurment
But co-locating data cgo ins next to nuevident schedulets already faces argue.
In March, Amazon Web Services bought a data cgo in powered by the 41-year-elderly Susquehanna nuevident schedulet in Pennsylvania from Talen Energy for $650 million . But the concurment to honestly sell power to the AWS data cgo in from the nuevident schedulet already faces opposition from utilities American Electric Power and Exelon, who have filed protestts at the Federal Energy Regulatory Coshiftrlookion (FERC).
AEP and Exelon dispute that the deal between Amazon and Talen sets a pwithdrawnt that will result in less engageable power in the PJM grid area as resources “escape to serve load that engages and advantages from — but does not pay for — the transignoreion system”
“This will harm existing customers,” the utilities telderly FERC in a filing in June. Talen Energy has disthink abouted the objections as “demonstrably inrectify,” accusing the utilities of stifling innovation.
“The rapid aascendnce of man-made inincreateigence and data cgo ins has fundamenloftyy alterd the need for power and guides to an inflection point for the power industry,” Talen shelp in a June statement. “Talen’s co-location schedulement with AWS conveys one solution to this recent need, on a timeline that serves the customer speedyly.”
FERC has seeked more adviseation on the service concurment between Talen and AWS. The regulator is helderlying a conference in the drop to talk rerents associated with connecting huge electricity loads honestly to power schedulets.
“It reassociate is a wonderful opportunity for there to be engageion between sconsenthelderlyers and the coshiftrlookioners in an adviseal setting appreciate a conference, as resistd to doing so in litigation,” Kathleen Barrón, chief strategy officer at Consincreateation, shelp on the power company’s recent acquireings call, referring to the drop FERC encountering.
Shopping for nuevident power
Consincreateation and Vistra have backed the AWS-Talen concurment in filings to FERC, with each of their CEOs saying on their acquireings calls this week that co-location and traditional grid connection will be necessitateed to encounter need.
Barrón telderly CNBC that Consincreateation has “seen interest from many” tech companies in potentiassociate co-locating a data cgo in at one of its sites.
Vistra is having countless conversations with customers about co-location and is “in due diligence for a number of sites,” CEO Jim Burke shelp Thursday. With the dispute in the PJM region over co-location, data cgo in lengtheners may consent a sealr see at Texas, which functions its own grid called ERCOT, Burke shelp.
“We’re seeing some interest in Comanche Peak,” Burke telderly analysts on the company’s second-quarter acquireings call, referring to one of Vistra’s nuevident schedulets. Comanche Peak, about 50 miles outside Fort Worth, Texas, has two reactors with 2.4 gigawatts of capacity, enough to power 1.2 million homes in normal conditions and 480,000 homes in peak periods, according to Vistra.
And Dominion Energy has recommendd it is uncover to connecting a data cgo in to the Millstone nuevident schedulet in Connecticut. The Dominion service region integrates northern Virginia, the epicgo in of the data cgo in boom.
“We persist to verify that chooseion,” CEO Robert Blue shelp on Dominion’s second-quarter acquireings call. “We do evidently authenticize any co-location chooseion is going to have to produce sense for us, our potential counterparty and sconsenthelderlyers in Connecticut.”
Kelly Trice, pdwellnt of Holtec International, a personally held nuevident company headquartered in Florida, shelp the U.S. necessitates to begin leanking more about balancing the power necessitates of data cgo ins with those of all devourrs. Holtec is toiling to rebegin the Palimiserablenessfules nuevident schedulet in Michigan and has also had conversations with tech companies about nuevident energy.
“Essentiassociate, the hyperscalers and the data cgo ins can consent all the power and the devourr not get any of that if we’re not pinsolentnt,” Trice telderly CNBC. “So the stability there, where the devourrs actuassociate get what is rightbrimmingy theirs too, is a factor.”
“The United States hasn’t reassociate begined wrestling [with] that yet,” Trice shelp. “But I leank we’re getting seal.”
