{"id":16973,"date":"2025-12-20T02:21:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T02:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/feds-will-let-big-tech-to-plug-their-data-centers-into-power-plants\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T02:21:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T02:21:18","slug":"feds-will-let-big-tech-to-plug-their-data-centers-into-power-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/feds-will-let-big-tech-to-plug-their-data-centers-into-power-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds will let Big Tech to plug their data centers into power plants"},"content":{"rendered":"<div xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/author\/marc-levy\">             <picture data-crop=\"60x60\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"60\" height=\"60\"><source width=\"60\" height=\"60\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"60\" height=\"60\" src=\"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/29a748e\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/213x213+0+53\/resize\/60x60!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F7a%2F53%2F3b34a87a4f528982f05ab93d0251%2Flevy-headshot-mlevy-ap-org.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>                                <bsp-timestamp data-timestamp=\"1766088042000\" data-recent-thresholdinhours=\"1\">                    <template data-date-tpl>Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year]<\/template>                    <span data-date><\/span>                <\/bsp-timestamp>            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>                                    <bsp-page-actions>                            <\/bsp-page-actions>                                                            <\/div>\n<div>\n<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) &mdash; Federal regulators will allow tech companies to effectively plug massive data centers directly into power plants, issuing a long-awaited order Thursday, as the Trump administration urges it to help the U.S. lead the world in <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/artificial-intelligence\">artificial intelligence<\/a><\/span>  and revive domestic manufacturing.<\/p>\n<p>The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission&rsquo;s unanimous order is designed to clear up pressing issues around so-called &ldquo;colocation&rdquo; agreements in the nation&rsquo;s largest grid territory, which stretches across mid-Atlantic states to parts of Illinois and Indiana.<\/p>\n<p>But it could become a blueprint for how FERC handles an October request from Trump&rsquo;s energy secretary, Chris Wright, to ensure that data centers and large manufacturers get the power they need as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n<p>It also comes amid concerns that the mid-Atlantic territory covering some 65 million people <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/power-grid-artificial-intelligence-cryptomining-pjm-08ed707897fa5274663649bb2c372849\">will face electricity shortages<\/a><\/span>  in the coming years, as the build out of data centers <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ai-natural-gas-power-plants-electricity-trump-a56208dd7fdebf5df1f792a0b7774c3d\">outpaces the speed<\/a><\/span>  of new power sources coming online.<\/p>\n<p>Laura Swett, FERC&rsquo;s chair, told Thursday&rsquo;s meeting that clearing the way for massive energy users &mdash; like data centers &mdash; to get electricity straight from power plants was a &ldquo;critical step to give investors and consumers more certainty on how FERC believes we can solve the problem of meeting historic surging demand and realize our greatest potential as a country.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>It would, she said, also protect regular ratepayers, even as <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/electricity-prices-data-centers-artificial-intelligence-fbf213a915fb574a4f3e5baaa7041c3a\">evidence mounts in various states<\/a><\/span>  that regular ratepayers are <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/2026-election-utility-bills-ai-data-centers-13703f61d1397612fd067e69b9093116\">bearing the cost<\/a><\/span>  of new power plants and transmission lines to feed energy hungry data centers.<\/p>\n<div data-module-tracksubscribe data-gtm-topic=\"No Value\" data-align-center>\n<p>Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Va7Tv2j59PwNEyqGCi1y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">            <span>Follow on<\/span>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/f50b139\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/131x31+0+0\/resize\/131x31!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F8c%2Fe0%2F2615e5984b5ebb8b89fd3ade6941%2Fwhatsapp-logo.png\" alt=\"WhatsApp\">        <\/a>    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Power plant owners applauded the step, as their share prices rose steeply in Thursday&rsquo;s trading. Advanced Energy United, whose members provide solar and wind power, said the FERC order should help clarify how big power users can set up their own power sources.<\/p>\n<p>The Edison Electric Institute, which represents for-profit utilities, said only that it would &ldquo;continue to work&rdquo; to support rapid data center connection, protect ratepayers from cost-shifts and strengthen the grid for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff Dennis, executive director of the Electricity Customer Alliance, said the order showed that FERC is trying to address looming issues around fast-growing power demand and underscored the urgency to reform grid policy.<\/p>\n<p>Thursday&rsquo;s order <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/power-electricity-amazon-microsoft-power-plants-data-centers-grid-f4763f73bc112425e18f30618dff0039\">grew out of a dispute<\/a><\/span>  between power plant owners and electric utilities over a proposed colocation deal between Amazon&rsquo;s cloud-computing subsidiary and the owner of the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>For tech giants, such arrangements represent a quick fix to quickly get power while avoiding a potentially longer and more expensive process of hooking into a fraying electric grid that serves everyone else. <\/p>\n<p>But utilities protested that it allows big power users to avoid paying them to maintain the grid. Some consumer advocates maintained that <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/big-tech-data-centers-electricity-energy-power-texas-pennsylvania-46b42f141d0301d4c59314cc90e3eab5\">diverting energy from existing power plants<\/a><\/span>  to data centers could drive up energy prices without an answer for how rising power demand will be met for regular ratepayers.<\/p>\n<p>FERC&rsquo;s Thursday order sets up a couple new regulatory tracks. <\/p>\n<p>It requires the operator of the mid-Atlantic grid, PJM Interconnection, to develop rates and conditions for different colocation scenarios involving new power plants or sources. <\/p>\n<p>That could mean allowing a big power user to pay for only the transmission services they use, considerably less than they might otherwise pay to connect to the grid through a utility.<\/p>\n<p>The order also could require a big power user that colocates with an existing power plant to pay the cost to replace the energy that it diverts away from the broader electric grid.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Follow Marc Levy on X at <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/timelywriter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/x.com\/timelywriter<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/power-electricity-ai-power-plants-data-centers-grid-6f52e60c4924f634a21fb5f35d68f29b\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) &mdash; Federal regulators will allow tech companies to effectively plug massive data centers directly into power plants, issuing a long-awaited order Thursday, as the Trump administration urges it to help the U.S. lead the world in artificial intelligence and revive domestic manufacturing. The Federal Energy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trump"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}