Energy Harbor, Standard Power to develop nuclear energy data infrastructure

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Energy Harbor Corp. and Standard Power announced Monday that they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a large-scale carbon free data infrastructure operation near Energy Harbor’s Shippingport, Penn nuclear facility.

The partnership will complete a feasibility analysis to determine the optimum engineering, co-location, and implementation of a new data center as part of the agreement. Standard Power will commit to a 10-year agreement to purchase between 200 and 300 MWs of electricity through the Beaver Valley facility at a fixed price starting in 2023 or 2024. The price, officials said, will reflect the clean, baseload, and carbon free attributes of nuclear power. Future phases of the agreement will provide the opportunity to scale up to 900 MWs.

“We appreciate the opportunity to build upon our strong relationship with Standard Power through this industry-transforming transaction,” Energy Harbor’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nuclear Officer David Hamilton said. “This effort is an important step in the transformation of the regions around our nuclear plants into Clean Energy Centers (CECs) that will be the necessary 24/7 carbon free, infrastructure backbone of the US economy.”

The agreement demonstrates both companies’ commitment to carbon-free clean energy, spokesmen for the companies said.

“Data infrastructure and the associated technology is energy intensive, and we recognize our responsibility to build a more environmentally sustainable future. Expanding our relationship with Energy Harbor strategically enables us to proactively structure our hosting capabilities to ensure that 100 percent of the power associated with this facility is carbon free,” Standard Power CEO Maxim Serezhin said.