Three developments stacked overnight, all on the same axis — who carries the load, and who pays for it. A second Ohio township passed a six-month data-center moratorium, targeted at a developer trying to annex around the township's zoning code. Southern Company and DTE Energy reported Q1 data-center load numbers larger than any single utility had previously publicized this cycle. And Virginia's State Corporation Commission opened a dedicated case to review how Dominion forecasts data-center load — the first time a state has formally tied speculative interconnection-queue applications to ratepayer cost-shift in a regulatory proceeding.
The Weathersfield Township Board of Trustees voted unanimously Thursday on a six-month moratorium covering the building, zoning, and approval of data centers. The action is tied to a specific proposal: Whitetail Creek LLC, also known as Bitdeer, has petitioned to annex three industrial-zoned parcels at 1047 Belmont Avenue from Weathersfield into the city of Niles, on the site of a former Ohio Edison power plant. Under Weathersfield's existing zoning, data centers are not permitted in industrial districts and would require a variance.
The moratorium ordinance enumerates the protected interests as “electrical grid impacts, utility costs, environmental concerns, water usage, sanitary sewer and discharge impacts, noise emissions, and traffic and infrastructure.” Trustees said in a written statement they will “pursue all available measures to ensure that any potential development does not negatively impact our community,” including negotiating “a comprehensive preannexation agreement” with Niles.
Trumbull County is now carrying four parallel data-center-adjacent stories simultaneously: Kimberly-Clark's 560-acre Niles plant under construction, ATSI/FirstEnergy completing transmission upgrades, FirstEnergy's three-year rate plan due May 22, and now Weathersfield's moratorium.
Source: Bob Coupland / Tribune Chronicle; parallel reporting in The Vindicator (Youngstown).
Southern Company reported 2.3% year-over-year growth in retail electricity sales in Q1, with data-center load up 42% from the same quarter last year. The company has 28 large-load projects representing 11 GW under contract, an additional 6 GW being finalized, and a stated “prospective pipeline” of 75 GW. Southern's $26.5 billion Department of Energy loan agreement, announced in February, covers “5 GW of new gas generation, 6 GW in nuclear improved through uprates and license renewals … and over 1,300 miles of transmission and grid enhancement projects,” according to the DOE release.
DTE Energy is preparing to serve a 1.4 GW Oracle data center in Michigan, currently under construction, and has filed a 1 GW Google contract with the Michigan Public Service Commission. The Google project is expected to drive roughly $5 billion in incremental generation and storage investment through 2032, supported by a 20-year power supply agreement structured to “protect existing customers.” Beyond Oracle and Google, DTE has identified another 2 GW in advanced discussions and 3-4 GW in further pipeline — roughly 8.4 GW in total opportunity.
"We continue to see incredible momentum and tangible interest for power from large load customers,” Southern Company CEO Chris Womack told analysts on the earnings call. DTE CEO Joi Harris said her utility's contracts “are designed to protect existing customers and support affordability."
Stacked against FirstEnergy's 4.3 GW contracted plus 14.9 GW pipeline by 2035 (reported Friday) and Entergy's $57 billion four-year capital plan tied to a $15 billion Meta-Louisiana deal (also Friday), the four-utility quarter-end picture is now visible at numbers larger than the combined PJM and SERC supply pipelines have publicly committed to deliver on the same timelines.
Source: Utility Dive.
Gov. Abigail Spanberger has signed House Bill 892, directing the State Corporation Commission to open a hearing on how Dominion Energy and other Phase I and Phase II utilities calculate load growth, and to take steps to mitigate the risk of additional costs falling on ratepayers. The bill explicitly authorizes the SCC to coordinate with PJM Interconnection on examining load-forecast methodology — the first state law in this cycle to formally engage the regional grid operator's forecast process.
Dominion currently has 25,000 megawatts of data-center load slated for connection with energized dates and another 75,000 megawatts in the pipeline without scheduled connection dates. The utility batches connection requests in groups of approximately ten at a time, capped at 300 megawatts per project; the resulting queue cycle takes “up to 15 years” to clear, according to Cody Murphey of the Data Center Coalition, testifying in the SCC case.
Will Cleveland, representing Google in the proceeding, argued that the queue's failure to distinguish “high quality, well capitalized projects” from speculative ones distorts forecasts: “Without some vigorous tools to weed out speculative, or duplicative load requests, such consequence free cue squatting unquestionably will distort load forecasts, complicate system planning, and likely drive up costs for all of Dominion's customers."
The SCC has separately asked Dominion to evaluate a fast-track process for well-capitalized applications. Jacqueline R. Vitiello, in written testimony for Dominion, defended the existing process as one that “enables [Dominion] to mitigate risk of network constraints, avoid stranded investment associated with requests that do not materialize, and ensure that system expansion proceeds in a manner consistent with prudent utility planning."
Source: Virginia Mercury (States Newsroom).
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