Delaware has enacted a package of legislation aimed at shielding electricity customers from cost increases tied to data center growth. The centerpiece is a bring your own power requirement that obligates hyperscale operators to develop clean generation capable of supplying their own facilities. The obligation phases in across a ten year window, and a share of the backup power at those sites must also come from clean sources.
The laws direct Delmarva Power, a subsidiary of Exelon, to create a separate and higher electricity rate class for hyperscale data centers. Operators placed in that class will carry the costs of new transmission and distribution work along with capacity procurement wherever those costs can be assigned to them. A further provision requires large facilities to reduce electricity demand during peak periods so that grid reliability holds during system stress. Another measure removes eligibility for job creation tax credits at data center projects in the state.
Delaware currently hosts a modest footprint, with Data Center Map listing 19 sites, most of them clustered around Wilmington. The development pipeline points toward far larger loads ahead. Starwood has filed plans for an 11 building campus in New Castle with capacity of 1.2GW, located roughly seven miles south of Wilmington.
The state joins a widening group of jurisdictions rewriting the terms under which large computing loads connect to the grid. The Tennessee Valley Authority recently applied higher rates to data centers seeking interconnection across its service area. Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia have each adopted or proposed rate classes and cost allocation rules covering the sector, reflecting a broader shift in how utilities and regulators treat concentrated electricity demand.
Source: Data Center Dynamics - https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/delaware-enacts-clean-energy-mandate-for-hyperscale-data-centers/