US utility PPL Corp has seen its data center pipeline in Pennsylvania swell by 23 percent compared to last quarter, with around 25.2GW of projects in the advanced stage of the connection process.

In its latest earnings report, the utility said that it now expects at least 10GW of data center load to be signed under Electricity Service Agreements (ESA) by the end of Q1.

Vincent Sorgi, president of PPL, said during the call that he believes “ all of the 25.2GW of projects have a high probability of completion.”

Sorgi also said that all of the ESAs “include strong customer protections, such as prepayments and credit support, as well as minimum load requirements for data center customers to pay approximately 80 percent of forecasted load until the costs incurred to extend service are fully recovered.”

Pennsylvania is currently in the process of developing a dedicated high-load-rate class for data centers, focusing on facilities with a peak demand of 20MW or more. The legislation was initially proposed in October.

In its Kentucky coverage area, the utility reported more than 9GW of potential new load through the early 2030s, 8GW of which is from data center companies. Of the 8GW, 4GW are considered highly active, with 500MW under construction.

Sorgi said that if the growth continues to materialize, “additional generation resources will absolutely be required.”

During the earnings call, the utility also referenced concerns about long-term affordability for ratepayers across the PJM Interconnection market, which has seen rising prices tied to data center growth.

“With the scale of data center growth we are seeing, we absolutely need to build new reliable generation to meet that demand,” said Sorgi. “The recent call by President Trump and the state governors in PJM for an emergency auction to spur construction of generation, that is a clear acknowledgment of what we have been saying for years.”

The utility said that if the auction were to come to fruition, it could produce around 6-7GW of new power generation. However, Sorgi said that this “would not address the expected data center demand in PPL Electric’s service territory, let alone data center demand across all of PJM. What the auction does signal, however, is increased pressure on data centers to bring their own generation to market or at least pay for the new generation required to power their data centers.”

Sorgi said that PPL is supporting the build-out of new generation through a number of ways, including its joint venture with Blackstone to build, own, and operate new electric generating stations to directly power data centers, announced in July.

Sorgi also claimed that the utility is “actively supporting legislation that has been proposed in Pennsylvania to allow regulated utilities to enter into long-term resource adequacy agreements with independent power producers.” According to the utility, the legislation would permit utilities, where appropriate, to build and own generation to support reliability and affordability.

PPL primarily serves the Pennsylvania market, delivering energy to more than 1.4 million customers across the state, in addition to its two subsidiaries in Louisville and Kentucky.