Where we stand on data centers
Every time you stream a show, check your email or scroll social media, a data center somewhere is doing the heavy lifting. Most of the processing behind the apps and websites you use every day also happens at a data center. As reliance on those services grows, so does the demand for facilities and the electricity that powers them.
As your local electric cooperative, we have an obligation to serve anyone who wants access to the electric system. And if we have a data center sited in our service territory, the data center owner, like all cooperative members, should pay their fair share. That is the fundamental premise of our data center rate schedule, which was recently approved by the Kentucky Public Service Commission.
The rate schedule establishes guidelines to identify costs and risks of serving large data centers, and provides strong protections
to ensure data centers bear all of the costs and risks they cause. Data centers must also provide cash flow in advance for expenses associated with consuming large amounts of electricity. The schedule ensures other cooperative members are not left to pay for expensive upgrades if a data center leaves early. Importantly, large projects requiring
more than 250 megawatts of electricity must secure dedicated resources to provide that power. They cannot simply rely on buying power in the wholesale electricity market and assume the power will be available.
Local communities should have a say in where and how data centers are integrated. Data centers should take reasonable steps to minimize their impact. Likewise, com-munity leaders should provide reasonable guidelines for developers to meet.
Like any large business, they will create new jobs, provide new investment in Kentucky’s communities and generate tax revenue to support schools, roads and other basic services. They will provide opportunities for our communities, many of which need a boost.
All cooperative members can benefit. Data centers can generate significant, predictable revenue that can help stabilize rates in the long-term for traditional Grayson RECC members.
Data centers will be built. If they are not built here in Kentucky, then they will go to nearby states. When that happens, the
value they can provide to our communities goes with them. The electric grid improvements and new local-built generation go, along with the benefit of increased reliability of Kentucky’s electric grid.
The expansion of AI computing and cloud services isn’t likely to slow down soon. Dozens of utility projects and large-scale facilities are currently looking into cooperative territories in the state. If a data center comes to our area, we’re prepared.
