While owners of nuclear power plants had been hoping they could look to tech companies to sell their power, a ruling from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could throw a wrench in those plans, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Late on Friday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected Talen Energy’s request to increase the amount of power that it could provide directly from its existing Susquehanna nuclear power plant to Amazon’s data center, from 300 megawatts to 480 MW. The decision hampers Talen’s ability to step up the amount of power it sells directly to Amazon, whose co-located data center has a potential capacity of up to 960 MW.
By denying Talen’s revised agreement, FERC is emphasizing that it would “continue to prioritize grid reliability and existing stakeholders over rapid load growth and new power market entrants,” renewable energy-focused financial service firm Karbone wrote in a note to clients.
In its decision, the FERC said the parties didn’t meet the “high burden” to justify the change.
