"Enormous impact"

Amazon may not connect data center to nuclear power plant

The authority fears a "huge impact on grid reliability and costs for consumers".(Bild: APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/CHIP SOMODEVILLA)

A US energy regulator has rejected the planned interconnection of an Amazon data center to a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. The reason given was rising costs for consumers.

According to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) filing on Friday, several members said the agreement to increase the capacity of the data center on the site of Talen Energy's Susquehanna nuclear power plant could increase electricity bills for the public.

"Agreements of the type presented here raise a number of complicated, nuanced and multi-layered issues that, taken together, could have a huge impact on grid reliability and costs to consumers," commented FERC Commissioner Mark Christie.

As technology companies continue to expand their data centers needed to scale up technologies such as generative artificial intelligence, locating centers directly on power plant sites has become an attractive option to quickly increase electricity supply.