First I've Heard of This!

Energy Central News, Owner of Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant clashes with BGE, other Maryland utilities over data centers 

Constellation Energy, the Baltimore-based owner of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland, says it’s in talks with large technology companies that want to build data centers next to the facility and bypass the electric transmission grid.

Advocates for building data centers in the state believe they will be a boon for the state economy, but Constellation’s plans put it at odds with its former corporate sibling Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., whose parent Exelon Corp. spun off the energy producing company in 2022.

The disagreement centers on whether such co-location of energy-intensive data centers with electricity producers like the two-reactor Calvert Cliffs plant would benefit consumers or not.

Constellation officials argue that plugging directly into a power plant preserves reliability, improves grid efficiency, lowers overall grid costs and reduces the need for transmission upgrades. BGE and other Maryland utilities counter that without proper regulatory oversight, such arrangements could boost costs for ratepayers and threaten the electric system’s reliability.

The stakes are high. Demand for artificial intelligence has U.S. data center operators rushing to find land and power sources, pitting states against one another to win billions of dollars in investments, thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of permanent jobs.

Maryland’s Department of Commerce has worked for several years to attract data centers to the state. Gov. Wes Moore has pledged to make “Maryland the best place for businesses to invest in data centers and infrastructure and that will drive a technology economy.”

Constellation is “having conversations with all the large technology companies that are out in the data center space, about potential projects at any number of our sites,” said Mason Emnett, Constellation’s senior vice president of public policy. “They’re looking for a large source of reliable, carbon-free power, and nuclear units have available, reliable, carbon-free power. So it’s a match we’re hoping we’re able to make.”

Constellation argues that co-location reduces demand on the power grid by serving customers directly rather than through transmission lines. And it says market prices will not be impacted any differently than they would by serving the same load via the power grid.

Maryland consumers “save money because the co-located load pays for its own delivery facilities,” the company said in a filing Friday with the Maryland Public Service Commission, which was asked by the General Assembly to to study whether the state should allow “co-location,” which refers to end-use electricity customers physically connecting to an existing or planned power plant.

That request came as the state legislature passed a bill designed to better protect consumers in Maryland’s competitive energy marketplace. An amendment proposed by BGE would have prohibited an electricity supplier or generator owner from directly supplying electricity to a commercial or industrial customer in a way that bypasses either transmission systems or an electric company’s services.

Wow! If you're not aware, Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant (CCNPP) is a near neighbor, about 2 miles away as the crow flies, three miles by boat (a little longer by car). I wonder where they would propose to put the data center? There's plenty of room on the large reservation for CCNPP, but then, what is all that room for? Between us and the power plant is Flag Ponds County Park, a lovely place. I would hope they wouldn't coopt that. Somewhere else in the county? 

Originally, the plant was build by Baltimore Gas and Electric, largely to supply electricity to the Baltimore area. The transmission lines ran up the county straight to Balmer, and local electricity was (and still is) supplied by Southern Maryland Electric Co-op, which bought electricity from other BGE and other providers. I think it mostly just feeds into the grid now.  If a significant chunk of CCNPPs 3.8 gigawatt output is siphoned off to a data center, what source of power will replace it? There's not much wind power here for some reason, and a bit of solar. Would they seek new units for CCNPP? 

A data center is a pretty big project, and it won't be finalized until the site and power source is nailed down. It would be  big shot in the arm to the local economy, and I suppose it would supply jobs to locals as well is bring in contractors, and eventually full time workers. Housing would be significant problem, both during the building phase, and once completed. Housing, especially for low end workers, is very limited, and expensive, and I expect such a project would exacerbate that.  I don't want to be a NIMBY, but I do want to hear more.