Duke Energy’s new 2 GWs of US data centers to include minimum take agreements, CFO says.
Duke Energy will include minimum take provisions in its agreements for two new gigawatts of U.S. data centers in its service areas, as the utility continues to hammer out details of its power agreements with the businesses, Duke’s chief financial officer told Reuters on Thursday.
As the technology industry’s race for electricity to power technologies like generative artificial intelligence drives up U.S. power demand, electric utilities have proposed new contract structures to protect the general public from higher power bills caused by the data center build-out.
Contracts for data centers and other Duke customers with power demand at a single site of more than 100 megawatts would require payments for a minimum amount of electricity regardless of usage, CFO Brian Savoy said, adding that any agreements would need to be approved by regulators.
The new data center customers, who have not been identified, have signed agreements, identified land they would use, but have not finalized power contracts with Duke.
Brian Savoy, said:
Now we’re negotiating over the next few months on what the contracts would look like.
Discussions with the data center operators include whether they would co-invest in infrastructure needed for the centers and whether there would be a special tariff rate to try to safeguard the general public from rising power bills.
Negotiations will likely happen over the next eight to 12 months on an agreement that would establish what the customer will pay for power, Duke said later on Wednesday in a company earnings call.
The Carolinas, which Duke is the main power provider for, has attracted particular interest from data centers, the company said.
Duke’s service area includes North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky.
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Duke Energy’s new 2 GWs of US data centers to include minimum take agreements, CFO says. source