Electric cooperatives release joint statement on recent Cave City data center developments
BARREN COUNTY, Ky. – Farmers RECC and the East Kentucky Power Cooperative are sharing a joint statement regarding recent Cave City data center developments.
The statement follows after newly surfaced development application records are offering a clearer picture of how far planning had progressed for a proposed Cave City data center project before local officials approved a one-year moratorium on similar developments.
The electric cooperatives stated the following:
“Farmers RECC and EKPC are committed to providing reliable, competitively priced power to all electric cooperative members. Farmers RECC is obligated to serve any home, business or other entity that chooses to locate within its service territory, and EKPC works cooperatively with Farmers RECC to provide power generation and transmission services.”
“Recognizing the potential for data center projects to impact other members, Farmers RECC and EKPC have developed a Data Center Power tariff (also known as a rate schedule) specifically for large data centers that wish to locate in electric cooperative service territories. A key principle of this tariff is protecting other members from bearing the costs or risks involved in serving a data center. Data centers must pay their own way.
“The DCP tariff has been reviewed and approved by the Kentucky Public Service Commission. It requires a three-party contract between Farmers RECC, EKPC and the data center developer. The proposed contract must be submitted to the Kentucky PSC for review and approval, and it must provide details of how the data center will be served, including power resources, infrastructure improvements and how the data center will cover those costs.
“At this time, a data center project application has not been filed with the electric cooperatives for a project in Barren County; this is the first step in developing a three-party contract. Our cooperatives are not engaged in discussions with the developer.
“As with any economic development project, Farmers RECC and EKPC recognize the potential benefits of data centers, including job creation, investment in the community, and growth in tax base to support roads, schools and other services. If communities choose to pursue data center projects, our cooperatives are prepared to support them while ensuring other co-op members do not bear costs or harm to reliability.”
News 40 will continue to provide the latest updates on local data center developments.
