UPDATE Data centers in Connecticut are drawing controversy. In the eye of the storm is the Millstone Power Station site. As the CT Mirror reports, some legislators are concerned about the impact of the behemoth facilities on the region’s power grid as they also consider the employment opportunities generated by a data center. Members of the Connecticut General Assembly are weighing the pros and cons of S.B. 299, a proposal that would require the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to evaluate the impact of large data centers on grid reliability.
“The demand and need for data centers is expanding significantly to keep pace with the needs of AI expansion and may constitute approximately eight percent of U.S. energy consumption by 2030,” stated Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes. “It’s really important to have the right framework to ensure that there’s equitable deployment of this kind of demand that doesn’t shift any costs — or increase costs — to other ratepayers and is harmonized with the need to maintain reliability of the grid.”
“Instead of studying the impact of data centers on the grid, the state [should] instead study ways to support data centers on our grid to leverage the greatest economic benefit they enable,” countered Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Dan O’Keefe. “We cannot afford to have them built first elsewhere, as these new computing technologies are important for our economic future,” he continued. “It is in the states and communities where these data centers are ultimately built that the greatest economic benefits will accrue. We need that to happen here, in CT, and there is a limited window of opportunity in which to act.”
Three years ago, Connecticut passed measures to incentivize data centers to set up shop in the state. The program waives sales and property taxes for 20 years for new data centers that invest at least $200 million in the state, according to the CT Mirror.
An investment of $50 million also qualifies for the tax breaks if the facility is located within a state-designated enterprise zone. An even larger investment could extend the tax exemptions up to 30 years. The Millstone site will be the first enterprise to take advantage of Connecticut’s offer.
The Millstone project in Waterford would host two two-story data center facilities. The centers would be able to process the large amounts of data required by AI and other advanced technologies. Dominion Energy would then be able to sell the power to NE Edge in a “behind-the-meter” arrangement that would reduce energy costs for the data centers.
The Connecticut General Assembly heard from a number of parties with differing viewpoints, from the region’s Sierra Club founder Thomas Quinn. Sen. Norm Needleman, who chaired the committee, noted that while he supported the data center plan, his concern was that it could pull from the regional grid for back-up power.
“My concern is not with having a data center,” he stated, “It’s with having a very significant sized data center behind the meter at a nuclear power plant — backed up by the grid — and what the potential impact is.” Later adding, “I just want to make sure, as chair of the Energy Committee, that we don’t screw up the grid.”
S.B. 299 is still under consideration.
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