Presentation - Energy Security in jeopardy for residents and businesses in light of proposed Millstone Point Data Centers projects, by Bryan Sayles, Founder CCWEL.

PJM plan could accelerate data center power deals, analysts say Reuters by Kavya Balaraman and Sumit Saha February 13, 2026

A plan from PJM Interconnection, the largest power grid operator in the U.S., to manage burgeoning power demand from data centers could accelerate deal-making between data-center owners and independent power producers, analysts said.

The plan, released last month, outlines a structure in which new large power users would either bring their own new generation to the grid or operate under a "connect-and-manage" framework that could have them scale back their power usage ahead of other emergency measures when the system is stretched.

As electricity costs rise, everyone wants data centers to pick up their tab. But how? (AP News) By Marc Levy February 13, 2026 

HARRISBURG, Pa. As outrage spreads over energy-hungry data centers, politicians from President Donald Trump to local lawmakers have found rare bipartisan agreement over insisting that tech companies — and not regular people — must foot the bill for the exorbitant amount of electricity required for artificial intelligence.

But that might be where the agreement ends.

The price of powering data centers has become deeply intertwined with concerns over the cost of living, a dominant issue in the upcoming midterm elections that will determine control of Congress and governors’ offices.

Facebook post by Joshua Moroles, Alamo Digital Agency, December 28, 2025

If I Lived in a Community About to Get a Data Center, These Are the Questions I’d Ask — Every Single Week

Before we talk about growth or “the cloud,” we need to be honest about what a data center really is.

It’s not virtual.

It’s not invisible.

A data center is a massive industrial facility that operates 24/7, uses enormous amounts of electricity, requires constant cooling, and relies entirely on local power, water, and infrastructure.

So if I were a resident in a city that’s being told data centers are “coming soon,” these are the questions I would be asking at every city council meeting — until they are clearly answered:

Power & Grid

• How much electricity will this facility use — in megawatts?

• Is our current grid built to handle that load without causing outages?

• Who is paying for new substations or transmission upgrades?

• What happens during heat waves or grid emergencies?

Water

• Will this data center use water for cooling?

• How much water per year?

• Will it rely on closed-loop systems or evaporative cooling?

• How does this impact a region already facing water stress?

Infrastructure

• Were our systems designed for AI-scale, 24/7 demand?

• What breaks first if demand spikes faster than upgrades?

• How long do upgrades take compared to how fast this facility comes online?

Jobs vs. Reality

• How many permanent local jobs will exist after construction?

• How many will be temporary?

• What is the long-term economic benefit to residents?

Health & Environment

• What backup systems are being used?

• Are diesel generators involved?

• How often are they tested or run?

• What pollution is released when they are used?

Transparency

• Are water and energy use publicly reported?

• Can residents see those numbers?

• What oversight exists if usage exceeds projections?

This isn’t about being anti-technology.

It’s about being informed before irreversible decisions are made.

Because data centers don’t live in “the cloud.”

They live next to homes, schools, hospitals, and neighborhoods.

An informed community doesn’t panic.

It asks questions — early, often, and out loud.

And if those questions can’t be answered clearly, that’s not opposition.

That’s a warning sign.

Talen Energy Continues Behind-the-Meter Power Fight for AWS Data Center Campus  Data Center Frontier, David Chernicoff Feb. 12, 2025 How Talen's taking their appeal to federal court could have a wide-reaching impact on future energy PPAs.

AI-induced pollution could kill hundreds, cost billions, researchers say.    By Troy Wolverton | SFO Examiner staff writer | Feb 11, 2025

Big Tech wants to plug data centers right into power plants. Utilities say it’s not fair  AP By  MARC LEVY January 25, 2025

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Looking for a quick fix for their fast-growing electricity diets, tech giants are increasingly looking to strike deals with power plant owners to plug in directly, avoiding a potentially longer and more expensive process of hooking into a fraying electric grid that serves everyone else.

DeepSeek says it built its chatbot cheap. What does that mean for AI’s energy needs and the climate?  By  JENNIFER McDERMOTT and MATT O’BRIEN  January 28, 2025  Chinese artificial intelligence startup company DeepSeek stunned markets and AI experts with its claim that it built its immensely popular chatbot at a fraction of the cost of those made by American tech titans. 

AI Needs So Much Power,It’s Making Yours Worse Technology | The Big Take By Leonardo Nicoletti, Naureen Malik,  Andre Tartar, for Bloomberg Technology, December 27, 2024
AI data centers are multiplying across the US and sucking up huge amounts of power. New evidence shows they may also be distorting the normal flow of electricity for millions of Americans. This map shows readings from about 770,000 home sensors, with red zones indicating areas with the most distorted power.

Consumer Counsels Fire Back At Utility Company Claims Regarding Credit Downgrades

CT News Junkie, by Jamil Ragland, December 16, 2024. Consumer advocates across New England fired back at utility companies that saw their credit scores downgraded last week by S&P Global, calling their claims that the blame lies with state officials “overly alarmist” and “self-serving.”

Millstone explores possibility of smaller-scale nuclear reactors Theresa Sullivan Barger, Special to The Day Nov 16, 2024 

Data centers are driving a huge surge in electricity demand amid the growing use of artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd speaks with Brian Singer, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, to look at what the future of data centers and electricity usage looks like with the rapid growth of new AI tools.

December 20, 2024 WBUR Here & Now Newsroom

Google CEO eyeing electricity from nuclear plants for its data centers by Julia Shapero, The Hill - 10/03/24.

Light bulbs have energy ratings — so why can’t AI chatbots? The rising energy and environmental cost of the artificial-intelligence boom is fuelling concern. Green policy mechanisms that already exist offer a path towards a solution. Nature COMMENT 21 August 2024 By Sasha Luccioni, Boris Gamazaychikov, Sara Hooker, Régis Pierrard, Emma Strubell, Yacine Jernite & Carole-Jean Wu

We’re Living in a Nightmare:’ Inside the Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Town, by Andrew R Chow/Granbury, Texas TIME Mag., July 8, 2024. The piece talks about bitcoin mining, but bitcoin mining happens in data centers, so this is really a data center piece. Worth noting: the setup is similar to what's being proposed here: set up the data center in close proximity to a power source.

Why So Many Bitcoin Mining Companies Are Pivoting to AI  TIME Mag. By Andrew R. Chow June 28 2024. As AI companies work furiously to improve the intelligence and usefulness of their products, their demand for cheap, plentiful energy has skyrocketed. This gold rush has been extremely profitable for an unlikely beneficiary: Bitcoin miners. 

New England Power Grid Declares Emergency as Heat Wave Hits (Bloomberg) Naureen S. Malik  Wed, Jun 19, 2024 -- New England’s power grid operator declared a level 1 emergency in a bid to shore up supplies, as the region faces an intense heat wave that’s forecast to last for days. 

Is there enough energy for a data center at Millstone?  Daniel Drainville, The Day, June 16, 2024.

The 'Transition Fuel' That Will Ride the AI Energy Boom  By Joel Litman, chief investment strategist, Altimetry May 28, 2024 Artificial-intelligence ('AI') poster child Sam Altman is pouring millions of dollars into nuclear energy...The way he sees it, nuclear power is the only way we'll meet our mounting energy demands.

Electricity grids creak as AI demands soar  May 20, 2024 by Chris Baraniuk, BBC Technology reporter

There’s a big problem with generative AI, says Sasha Luccioni at Hugging Face, a machine-learning company. Generative AI is an energy hog. “Every time you query the model, the whole thing gets activated, so it’s wildly inefficient from a computational perspective,” she says.

Data centers to run out of power in two years, says DigitalBridge CEO
lightreading.com Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies May 6, 2024

'We're kind of running out of power in the next 18 to 24 months,' warned Marc Ganzi of DigitalBridge. How data center operators might address this power shortage remains unclear.

Data center power consumption MadMoneyOnCNBC, Generac CEO Aaron Jagdfeld details how AI technology uses a lot of energy. May 3, 2024

Data centers as electricity hogs States rethink data centers as ‘electricity hogs’ strain the grid
By Kevin Hardy Newsbreak April 30, 2024

As internet data centers multiply, efforts to control them are growing. Washington Post

by Antonio Olivo April 30, 2024

A backlash against internet data centers has triggered a wave of laws around the country to restrain the rapidly growing industry that uses massive amounts of energy to make cloud computing and smart technology possible.

Google data center would be among Cedar Rapids’ largest water and energy users

City has surplus water capacity for proposed $576M project The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA by Erin Jordan Apr. 29, 2024 

Why the AI Industry’s Thirst for New Data Centers Can’t Be Satisfied

Wall Street Journal By Tom Dotan and Asa Fitch April 24, 2024 Supply bottlenecks slow the scramble to build bigger, more powerful facilities. The frenzy to build data centers to serve the exploding demand for artificial intelligence is causing a shortage of the parts, property and power that the sprawling warehouses of supercomputers require. [article paywall]

Is CT’s electric grid ready to handle more power? CT Mirror by Jan Ellen Spiegel April 9, 2024

Some lawmakers have argued that the grid can’t yet handle widespread electrification and therefore policies that require electric power should not be put in place.

Internet data centers are fueling drive to old power source: Coal The Washington Post By Antonio Olivo,  April 17, 2024

Generac CEO Aaron Jagdfeld details how artificial intelligence has changed energy consumption on (FOX News) 'The Claman Countdown.'  April 12, 2024

US electric utilities brace for surge in power demand from data centers.
By Laila Kearney Seher, Dareen Deep, Kaushik Vakil, Reuters 10 April 2024

Overall, power use from the thousands of giant computing warehouses that comprise data centers is expected to triple globally from less than 15 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2023 to 46 TWh this year, according to Morgan Stanley research. "The truth of the matter is these things (data centers) are pigs when it comes to energy use, and now they're the size of an elephant," said Eric Woodell ...

Plans for Massive Data Center Linked to Nuclear Power Spark Debate on Connecticut’s Energy Future CT Examiner, Francisco Uranga, 08 April 2024 Thomas Quinn wants to build a hyperscale data center — what would be the single largest user of electricity in Connecticut — next to the Millstone Nuclear Power plant in Waterford.

Now what the heck do we do about data centers? Ivy Main, The Virginia Mercury, 03 April 2024 Virginia’s 2024 legislative session wrapped up last month without any action to avert the energy crisis that is hurtling towards us.

A mega data center could drive AI, deliver billions to CT. Will politics and power worries doom it?  
By Edmund H. Mahony  24 March 2024 Hartford Courant

[CT] Energy Committee Advances Procurement Bill [Senate Bill 385]

Republican Amendment Fails, But Needleman Says Language Is Still A Work In Progress by Hudson Kamphausen 22 March 2024

HARTFORD, CT – A bill that would include other New England states in the contract negotiations with the Millstone Nuclear Power Station in Waterford was voted through the Connecticut General Assembly’s energy committee along party lines Thursday, but not without some resistance from Republicans. 

Data centers, bitcoin and EVs send utilities scrambling for more power
U.S. energy use has been flat, but bitcoin, data centers and EVs are fueling a spike and threatening climate goals. By Kristi Swartz, Pam Radtke, Floodlight 19 March 2024 Canary Media

Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power  By Evan Halper WaPo 07 March 2024 

Artificial intelligence, data centers and the boom in clean-tech manufacturing are pushing America’s aging power grid to the brink. Utilities can’t keep up.