Southeast Utilities Justify Gas Buildout with Data Center Demand, Raising Clean Energy Concerns
Utilities in the Southeast are planning a significant expansion of gas power plants, citing growing electricity demand from data centers. Environmental groups and advocates are criticizing this approach, urging tech companies to uphold their clean energy commitments and oppose fossil fuel expansion. Despite some individual clean energy initiatives, many major tech companies have not consistently opposed these gas-centric utility plans.
Utilities across the Southeast are reportedly planning a substantial buildout of gas-fired power plants, projecting approximately 45,000 megawatts of new gas capacity by 2040, equivalent to about 45 large plants across six states. Emma Clancy, a staff attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, argues that these utilities are using the increasing electricity demand from data centers as justification for this fossil fuel expansion.
Clancy, who advocates for clean energy before state utility commissions in South Carolina and Virginia, initially saw the intervention of major tech companies like Apple, Meta, and Google in 2022 as a potential ally against new gas resources. These companies, with their significant financial clout, were seen as capable of challenging the institutional influence of dominant investor-owned utilities such as Duke, Dominion, and Southern. However, Clancy expresses disappointment that these tech giants have largely remained silent or even supported gas expansion plans in subsequent proceedings, despite publicly stated clean energy commitments. She highlights that Google, Amazon, and Microsoft intervened in Dominion Energy Virginia's resource planning, yet none objected to Dominion's proposal to add 6 gigawatts of gas by 2036, with Microsoft reportedly recommending approval.
While some companies, like Google, are pursuing innovative clean energy partnerships, such as a 100% clean energy portfolio with Xcel in Minnesota, Clancy contends these efforts are being overshadowed by the broader gas buildout. She emphasizes that these utility plans will lead to higher energy bills, increased air pollution, and exacerbate the climate crisis. Clancy urges tech leaders to take responsibility for their impact on utility planning and to more actively advocate for clean energy solutions to improve the grid for all.