Overview
- Arizona utilities are overwhelmed by data‑center interconnection requests, with Arizona Public Service reporting roughly 10 gigawatts of supply facing about 30 gigawatts of requests.
- A Rewiring America proposal released this week would have data centers pay to outfit homes with rooftop solar, batteries and efficiency measures so those behind‑the‑meter resources can be dispatched as virtual power plants.
- Local pilots show benefit at modest scale—APS’s Cool Rewards program freed about 145 megawatts in 2023 and eastern U.S. VPPs shifted roughly 3 gigawatts during a heat event—but experts say scaling to meet data‑center loads will be complex.
- Some developers are preparing their own on‑site generation instead, including reports that SpaceX committed about $2.8 billion for gas turbines, a move that could raise local pollution and long‑term fossil‑fuel reliance.
- Decisions over who pays for upgrades are likely to fall to state utility commissions and will take years to resolve, so next steps to watch are commission rulings, data‑center financing choices, and whether VPP pilots expand quickly enough to matter to grid planners.