Dominion Energy looking at connecting data center directly to Connecticut nuclear plant

Spencer Kimball

Dominion Energy is exploring the possibility of connecting a data center directly to a nuclear plant in Connecticut, as the tech sector hunts for carbon-free electricity to power artificial intelligence applications.

The Millstone Power Station in Waterford, Connecticut, provides more than 90% of the Nutmeg State’s carbon-free power and generates enough electricity for nearly two million homes annually, according to Dominion.

“We’re certainly open to the idea of a co-located data center,” Dominion CEO Robert Blue told analysts on the company’s second-quarter earnings call Thursday when asked about Millstone.

“We continue to explore that option,” Blue said. “We do clearly realize any co-location option is going to have to make sense for us, our potential counterparty and stakeholders in Connecticut.”

Some 55% of Millstone’s output is spoken for under a fixed-price contract through late 2029, Blue said. Dominion is “actively working with multiple parties to find the best value for Millstone” when the current power purchase agreement expires, the CEO said.

Surging demand

Power demand from data centers is surging as tech companies build larger and larger facilities to support increased use of artificial intelligence.

The demand from individual data centers has soared from 30 megawatts historically to as much as several gigawatts today, Blue said on Dominion’s first-quarter earnings call in May. A gigawatt of power is equivalent to the capacity of an average nuclear reactor in the U.S.

Dominion is the eighth-largest company in the S&P 500 Utilities Index by market value. The utility, headquartered in Richmond, serves northern Virginia, the world’s largest data center market. Dominion has connected nine new data centers so far this year with plans for a total of 15 by the end 2024.

Blue said Thursday that data center “growth is accelerating in orders of magnitude driven by the number of requests, the size of each facility and the acceleration of each facility’s ramp scheduled to reach full capacity.”

The tech sector has shown growing interest in nuclear as a source of reliable, carbon-free power for data centers. Amazon Web Services bought a data center powered by a Talen Energy nuclear plant in Pennsylvania for $650 million in March. AWS is also in talks with Constellation Energy for electricity supplied by a nuclear plant on the East Coast,

Two housing developments will bring nearly 200 homes to West Hartford's Elmwood neighborhood

WEST HARTFORD — The latest investment in West Hartford's New Park Avenue corridor will create nearly 200 new homes between two housing developments.

Both the Elmwood Lofts — a 117 unit mixed-use development at the former Puritan Furniture site — and The Jayden — a 70 unit mixed-use development at 579 New Park Ave. — have been given administrative approval to move forward, said Todd Dumais, West Hartford's town planner.

Neither of the proposals needed Town Council approval as they fall within West Hartford's new transit-oriented development district, which encourages developers to build in that part of town located near two CTfastrak bus stations. In exchange, developers receive incentives for including affordable housing and can have provide fewer parking spaces.

Dumais said both projects fit the vision town staff had when pushing the idea of a transit-oriented development that capitalizes on nearby public transportation, local jobs and the four D's: distance, density, diversity and design.

"The community in general and certainly the town is excited that we have two mixed-use projects that have been able to take advantage of the transit-oriented zoning changes," Dumais said. "Each of them fits within the mold of what that public process ended up in."

Both developments will also feature ground floor space for retail uses, with restaurants specifically being mentioned in the past for the Elmwood Lofts site. The area has seen recent investments in dining with the continued success of the GastroPark and the recently-announced The Laurel, a new restaurant by Millwright's chef Ashley Flagg that is taking over the Corner Pug's space.

The Elmwood Lofts development was first announced in January of 2022 when the state awarded the project a nearly $1 million Brownfield Remediation grant to help clean the site. Dumais said the Elmwood Lofts received a second approval in June after developers, led by Sami Abunasra, refined their plans as they prepared construction-ready documents. Dumais said they decreased their total unit count from 150 to 117. The project will likely include 20 percent of its units as affordable housing.

The Jayden, which is led by Tommy Li and The Hexagon Group, will also feature affordable housing units, with developers previously saying 14 of the 70 units would be affordable. The town is currently in the process of adding over 500 affordable housing units across nearly a dozen housing developments. Both the Elmwood Lofts and The Jayden also represent the most recent housing opportunities along the New Park Avenue, joining developments created by the West Hartford Housing Authority.

Elmwood Lofts, while located on New Britain Avenue, sits at the town's gateway to New Park Avenue, which is set to have its roadway rehabilitated through a redesign that would improve user safety through a partial road diet and the creation of the town's first-ever protected bike lane. 

Housing developments continue to be top of mind for others in town, as a real estate agent representing sites on New Park Avenue and Farmington Avenue envisions them being potential uses for multifamily housing. Elsewhere in town, hearings continue over the second half of the former University of Connecticut campus, which could result in hundreds more homes being built.

 according to a Wall Street Journal report in July.