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Pepco warns data centers can drive large new loads; proposes letters of credit and feasibility fees to limit ratepayer risk
Summary
Pepco (Exelon) senior manager Mark Scurano briefed the task force on the company's review process for large electricity customers, described costs for feasibility studies and new transmission work, and said a new Transmission Service Agreement (TSA) model will require developer letters of credit to protect ratepayers from stranded infrastructure.
Mark Scurano, senior economic development manager for Pepco (an Exelon company), told the Qualified Data Center Task Force that large data center projects typically require extensive grid study and can trigger multi-year interconnection and infrastructure upgrades. "Data centers are projected to require $6,700,000,000,000 in new investments internationally," Scurano said, and he cited U.S. data-center electricity figures that rose from about 58 gigawatts in 2014 to 176 GW in 2023, with forecasts that demand could increase substantially by 2028.
Nut graf: Pepco outlined procedural and financial protections designed to limit the risk that ratepayers bear the cost of transmission or distribution upgrades for projects that do not materialize, and described how studies and interconnection timelines can delay first power delivery by several years. The utility said it does not generate electricity, is regulated by state and…
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