The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is facing a protest from American Electric Power and Exelon regarding changes to an interconnection service agreement involving a nuclear power plant providing power to an Amazon data center. Talen Energy’s subsidiary, Susquehanna Nuclear, is urging the agency to reject the protest, calling it an illegal attempt to derail the agreement. Talen Energy recently agreed to sell power from its nuclear plant to Amazon’s data center in Pennsylvania.
As part of the deal, AWS has agreed to purchase power in increments for the data center, with a potential total of 960 MW. To facilitate the sale, PJM Interconnection requested FERC’s approval for a modified ISA to increase the power plant’s capacity to 480 MW. AEP and Exelon have expressed concerns about potential cost shifting to ratepayers and have called for a hearing on the issue or dismissal of the amended ISA.
Susquehanna Nuclear has dismissed the concerns, stating that the benefits of the agreement outweigh any potential cost impacts. The company believes that holding hearings on the routine tariff submission would be unnecessary and could jeopardize the energy supply agreement with Amazon. The primary goal of AEP and Exelon’s protest, according to Susquehanna Nuclear, is to delay the agreement.
The amended ISA includes provisions to ensure grid reliability, such as a protection scheme to prevent power flows from the grid to the co-located load. Susquehanna Nuclear argues that these provisions are in line with FERC’s standards and are essential for maintaining reliability. PJM and PPL have both approved the amended ISA, and Susquehanna Nuclear claims they did not mislead either party.
The dispute over the ISA comes at a time when other nuclear power plant owners are exploring similar agreements with data centers. Constellation and Public Service Enterprise Group are among those considering direct sales of electricity to co-located data centers.
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