Talen urges US regulators to dismiss challenge to Amazon data deal.
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Talen Energy Urges Rejection of Challenge to Amazon Data Center Deal
NEW YORK - Talen Energy has approached U.S. regulators with a request to dismiss a challenge against its recent agreement involving an Amazon data center. This move has faced opposition from a coalition of electric utilities, which argue that the deal could increase power costs for the general populace, according to a filing submitted on Friday.
Talen Energy contends that the objections raised by utilities, including American Electric Power and Exelon, are mistaken. The company insists that its interconnection pact for the Amazon data center will neither jeopardize grid reliability nor lead to higher power costs for utility customers. "It is an unlawful attempt to hijack this limited interconnection service agreement amendment proceeding that they have no stake in and turn it into an ad hoc national referendum on the future of data center load," Talen stated in its filing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Rising Demand for Electricity in Tech Industry
Tech companies are increasingly competing to secure vast electricity supplies necessary to operate and cool data centers, which are essential for deploying advanced technologies like generative AI. Given its carbon-free and continuous power supply, nuclear energy has become a popular choice among data center operators.
In March, Talen Energy announced a pivotal deal to provide electricity from its Pennsylvania nuclear power plant to Amazon Web Services. This agreement includes a data center campus and guarantees Amazon's data storage facilities an electrical capacity of up to 960 megawatts, equivalent to the power needs of roughly one million homes.
Utilities Demand Scrutiny
Last month, a group of utilities, among them American Electric Power and Exelon, urged FERC to conduct a hearing to more thoroughly examine Talen's interconnection agreement with Amazon or to reject it outright. They argue that the data center interconnection might impose an annual cost shift of $140 million onto everyday ratepayers.
