FirstEnergy data center pipeline grows 4.8% to 26 GW

FirstEnergy's data center load pipeline grew 4.8% to 26 GW in the third quarter, Utility Dive reported. The company's two West Virginia utilities reserved turbines for a $2.7 billion project and sought bids for 3 GW more.

The 26 GW covers contracted load and other potential load, according to Utility Dive. In West Virginia the pipeline reached 6 GW, up from 4.3 GW three months earlier. Chairman, president and CEO Brian Tierney said interest is spread across Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

For allocators weighing regulated utility equity or private gas-fired generation, the schedule is set by equipment lead time: the Siemens Energy reservation carries a 2030 delivery date, per FirstEnergy's quarterly SEC filing. The West Virginia Public Service Commission's certificate decision in the fourth quarter will determine when the remaining major contracts are signed.

Monongahela Power and Potomac Edison are seeking permission from the West Virginia Public Service Commission to build the Maidsville Energy Center. The roughly $2.7 billion project pairs a 1,200-MW gas-fired plant with three solar projects totaling 70 MW. Tierney said FirstEnergy expects a certificate in the fourth quarter and that all other major contracts are on track to be signed shortly after the commission order.

"Maidsville is an important project on its own, but we see it as the first of a broader set of opportunities in West Virginia," Tierney said.

The 3 GW request for proposals covers combined-cycle turbines for plants that would serve data center load in West Virginia, Tierney said. The Siemens Energy reservation covers the Maidsville turbines specifically, with the 2030 delivery date disclosed in FirstEnergy's quarterly SEC filing.

FirstEnergy is also examining "bridge" generation that could be built quickly while transmission lines and larger plants work through development and construction. Tierney named reciprocating engines, fuel cells and batteries as possible options and said the smaller assets could later be moved to other large load projects once a final generating solution is in place.

Tierney described a customer pattern of starting with a 100-MW building on the way to a 1-GW campus. The first wave of data centers is expected online in the 2030 timeframe, he said, while hyperscalers are looking beyond that across the service territory. FirstEnergy expects data center demand across its six-state footprint to drive up transmission investment, according to Utility Dive.