Duke Energy has signed agreements to connect 2GW of new data center capacity across its service area, with load growth expected to grow further in 2027.
In its Q3 earnings call, Duke Energy chief financial officer Brian Savoy stated: “The projects that we're talking to customers about today will show up in late 2027, 2028 and ramp up in the balance of the decade.”
The company's service area includes the Carolinas, Florida, Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Hyperscalers are active in many of these markets.
It is unclear whether the 2GW of new connections comes from one or several customers. However, Savoy said signing a letter of agreement only occurs when a customer “has a site identified and land secured either through options or purchased.”
Following this, Duke will negotiate an energy service agreement to determine payment rates, with details expected over the next year.
Savoy refused to comment on whether the new capacity was linked to Microsoft's recent acquisition of a large tract of land in North Carolina. The hyperscaler acquired the 1,350-acre Person County Mega Park for an estimated $26.85 million.
In addition, Savoy indicated that the company is in talks with several customers interested in the Carolinas, mainly because its “energy is carbon-free nuclear.”
Nuclear energy is becoming increasingly attractive to data center operators following a spate of deals between hyperscalers and nuclear plant operators. Hyperscalers, Microsoft, AWS, and Google have all entered into supply agreements to acquire nuclear power for their operations in the US.
In addition, several utilities have indicated they are in talks or interested in signing supply agreements with data centers for their nuclear assets. Last week, Vistra reported that it had entered into discussions with several high-profile data center operators about increasing the output of its nuclear power projects.
In addition, Last month, NextEra Energy reported that it was considering restarting the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa due to strong interest from data centers.
Duke Energy is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and owns 54.8GW of baseload and peak generation in the US. It provides energy to approximately 7.4 million customers.
In October, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Nucor to develop renewable energy in North and South Carolina.
Following this in November, it announced it would include take-or-pay provisions in its agreements for 2GW of US data centers across its coverage area.
