The question hanging over AI data centres is no longer only whether there is enough power. It is who pays for the wires and power plants they need, and what happens if a project shrinks or leaves. Two US decisions and a Senate bill this week give concrete answers, while equipment makers ship generators straight to AI sites.
- North Carolina: Duke Energy, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others filed a settlement on 6 October setting rules for very large customers. Regulators still have to approve it (confirmed filing) [1].
- Indiana: regulators approved a plan under which Google pays the full cost of serving a 390 MW data centre (confirmed) [2].
- Washington: a bipartisan Senate bill would speed up approvals for power projects and make data centres pay for the grid costs they cause (bill confirmed; details reported) [7][8].
- On-site power: Doosan shipped its first gas turbine to the US, for SpaceXAI, and Wärtsilä won a 282 MW order for engines at a US data centre (confirmed) [3][4][5][6].
Nothing here is investment advice.
What did Duke and the tech companies agree?
The settlement, filed with the North Carolina Utilities Commission, proposes a “Large Load Tariff” for both Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress [1]. Signatories include the commission’s Public Staff (the state’s consumer advocate), Amazon Data Services, Google, Microsoft, industrial customers and the US Department of Defense [1].
It covers new contracts signed on or after 1 June 2026 by customers using at least 50 MW at a steady high load, or 150 MW at any load. Existing customers are not affected unless they add that much new demand [1]. The main terms [1]:
- Pay upfront. The customer pays the estimated cost of facilities built just for it in advance, and backs the cost of wider grid upgrades with a letter of credit.
- Long contracts. At least 10 years for sites under 100 MW, and 15 years for larger ones (longer if the ramp-up takes time).
- Pay for most of what you book. Demand charges are billed on at least 75% of contracted demand, even if the site uses less.
- Notice and exit fees. Leaving early or cutting demand requires 24 to 48 months’ notice, depending on size, plus damages.
- Accept some interruptions. During ramp-up and one year after, the customer must agree to cuts of either 95% of its load for up to 50 hours a year, or 50% for up to 100 hours, capped at six hours a day and unpaid, or another approved option.
The tariff would apply to service from 1 January 2027 [1]. The commission keeps full authority to accept or reject it, and the deal binds no one unless accepted in full [1]. Duke would also report within a year on ways to charge individual customers for shared grid upgrades they trigger [1].
Together, these terms put the cost of a cancelled or shrunken project on the customer, through upfront payments, minimum bills and exit fees, rather than on everyone else.
What did Indiana approve?
On 7 October the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved AES Indiana’s plan to power Google’s planned 390 MW data centre near Monrovia, in Morgan County [2]. AES estimates the total cost, including transmission upgrades, at about $1.3 billion [2].
Indiana law requires large new loads to cover at least 80% of the cost of serving them; Commissioner Joby Jerrells noted that Google is covering 100% [2]. AES says other customers could save $770 million over 15 years if Google uses its full 390 MW, about $47 a year for an average household [2]. That is the utility’s projection.
What would the Senate bill change?
Congress may make such terms national. Senator Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, unveiled the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act on 30 September [7]. It would speed up federal approval of power plants and transmission lines, with deadlines for environmental reviews, and would force data centres “to fully pay for their grid upgrades, as well as their share of the existing grid”, Heinrich says [7].
Axios, which has examined the data-centre provisions, reports that new data centres of at least 20 MW would have to bear the extra costs they impose across the power system, from generation to local wires. They would stay liable for those costs even if they stopped buying power early, and utilities would need financial guarantees before building for them [8]. States would be free to go further [8]. The Data Center Coalition says it is still reviewing the bill; one anonymous tech industry official said some provisions amount to an “unprecedented level of discriminatory treatment” for a single industry [8].
Heinrich wants to bring the bill to the Senate floor “later in November” [7]. It has not passed either chamber.
Why are generators going straight to data centres?
Waiting for the grid takes years, so some projects bring their own power.
On 6 October Doosan Enerbility held a ceremony in Changwon, South Korea, to ship a DGT6-300H gas turbine to SpaceXAI, which Yonhap describes as the AI arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX [3]. It is Doosan’s first gas turbine shipment to the US, for an energy project SpaceXAI is building there [3]. Doosan’s materials, reported by Korean outlets, put the turbine at 380 MW; Yonhap’s report gives no figure [3][4][5]. Seoul Economic Daily adds that Doosan has contracts for 12 turbines with US companies; that five are for SpaceXAI is an industry estimate [4].
On 5 October Wärtsilä said it will supply 15 gas engines totalling 282 MW for a US data centre developed by an unnamed “major US independent power producer” [6]. Delivery is due in 2028, with full operation in 2029. It is Wärtsilä’s seventh US data-centre order, taking its sales for US data-centre use above 3 GW [6].
The queue problem is not only American. A report by the insurer FM puts Britain’s grid connection queue at 738 GW, about four times the capacity needed for the Clean Power 2030 target set out by the National Energy System Operator (NESO), with more than 50 GW requested for data centres (reported) [9].
What links these stories?
Pressure on bills is shaping the rules. On 6 October Raleigh, Oakland and San Joaquin County paused new data-centre approvals, citing electricity costs among other concerns. North Carolina and Indiana take a different route: let projects proceed, but make the companies carry the cost and risk.
What this does not prove
- That North Carolina’s rules will take effect. The settlement needs the commission’s approval [1].
- That Indiana bills will fall. The $770 million saving is AES’s projection and depends on Google using its full capacity [2].
- The Doosan figure from an independent source. 380 MW comes from Doosan’s own statements as reported in Korea [4][5].
- Where the new gas plants will run. Neither SpaceXAI’s site nor Wärtsilä’s customer is named [3][6].
- That the Senate bill will become law. It has been introduced, not passed, and the data-centre details here come from Axios’s reading [7][8].
The Bottom Line
The deals taking shape put more of the bill on the data-centre owner: pay upfront, sign for 10 to 15 years, pay for most of what you book, and accept cuts when the grid is tight [1]. Indiana has approved Google paying the full cost of its site [2], and a bipartisan Senate bill would write similar rules into federal law [7][8]. Meanwhile gas turbines and engines are going straight to AI projects [3][6]. Whether households are actually protected will show up in bills over years, not in this week’s filings.
Related on TSN: Black Hills’ $1.8bn gas build for Google’s Cheyenne data centre · Fewer Secrets, More Promises: Amazon’s Answer to the Data Center Backlash
Sources
- Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy Progress et al., “Agreement and Stipulation of Settlement on Large Load Tariff,” NCUC Docket Nos. E-7, Sub 1329 and E-2, Sub 1380, filed 6 October 2026 (copy hosted by the Southern Environmental Law Center). https://www.selc.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2026-10-06-Duke-Energy-LLT-Settlement.pdf
- Daniel Bradley, “IURC approves AES plan to power Google data center in Morgan County,” Inside Indiana Business, 7 October 2026. https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/articles/iurc-approves-aes-plan-to-power-google-data-center-in-morgan-county
- Kim Eun-jung, “Doosan Enerbility ships 1st gas turbine to U.S. for SpaceXAI,” Yonhap News Agency, 6 October 2026. https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20261006006200320
- “Doosan Enerbility Ships First Gas Turbine to U.S. for SpaceXAI,” Seoul Economic Daily, 6 October 2026. https://en.sedaily.com/finance/2026/10/06/doosan-enerbility-ships-first-gas-turbine-to-us-for-spacexai
- Ko Eun-gyeol, “Doosan Enerbility exports 380 MW gas turbine to US AI firm SpaceXAI,” The Herald Business, 6 October 2026. https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10894281
- Wärtsilä, “Wärtsilä to supply 282 MW onsite power solution for a U.S. data center as AI growth intensifies demand for reliable power,” press release, 5 October 2026. https://www.wartsila.com/media/news/05-10-2026-wartsila-to-supply-282-mw-onsite-power-solution-for-a-u-s-data-center-as-ai-growth-intensifies-demand-for-reliable-power-3797450
- Office of Senator Martin Heinrich, “Heinrich Unveils Landmark Bipartisan Legislation to Lower Costs, Create Jobs, and Force Data Centers to Fully Pay for Costs They Incur,” press release, published 2 October 2026 (press conference 30 September). https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/heinrich-unveils-landmark-bipartisan-legislation-to-lower-costs-create-jobs-and-force-data-centers-to-fully-pay-for-costs-they-incur
- Amy Harder, “Data centers face a sweeping new power regime,” Axios, 8 October 2026. https://www.axios.com/2026/10/08/data-centers-power-regime
- Skye Morley, “UK grid queue is four times bigger than clean power target,” Energy Live News, 8 October 2026 (on a report by FM). https://www.energylivenews.com/2026/10/08/uk-grid-queue-is-four-times-bigger-than-clean-power-target/
Source note: The Duke settlement was read in full from the filed PDF (25 pages, including the draft tariff and an illustrative exit-fee table). The 380 MW turbine rating is not in Yonhap’s report (the brief’s primary link); it comes from Doosan’s statements as carried by Seoul Economic Daily and The Herald Business. The 20 MW threshold and other data-centre details of the Senate bill are from Axios; Heinrich’s release confirms the bill and its transmission-cost provisions but not the 20 MW figure. The bill’s bipartisan co-sponsors are not named in the sources read. The FM report itself was not read; the UK figures are as reported by Energy Live News.
