Energy on their minds, NJ lawmakers crack down on data centers, boost nuclear, solar power
Bill S731 seeks to protect ratepayers by ensuring large-load customers like data centers pay for all their needed grid infrastructure upgrades, pay for at least 85% of their projected power requirements for 10 years, post security deposits up front, and pay for the grid services, including transmission, distribution, capacity and reliability, that they rely on.
The bill will incentivize data centers to provide their own new clean generation and energy storage, invest in energy efficiency, and capture and reuse the enormous heat waste they produce.
S4390 would end state tax credits to data centers available under the “Next New Jersey Program,” repealing the $250 million that would have been available under the program overseen by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
S3379 would require data center owners and operators to submit water and energy usage reports to the BPU twice a year.
Nuclear power would get a big boost under A4881, the “Power NJ Act.” It directs the BPU and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to establish a program to facilitate advanced nuclear energy facilities in the state.
There has been considerable political interest in reviving nuclear power in New Jersey now that the state’s efforts to become the East Coast hub of the offshore wind industry are dead in the water under President Donald Trump.
The owners of the former Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey Township have proposed putting four smaller “modular” nuclear reactors at the site, which is already wired into the power distribution grid.
The company that owns the former Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey Township says it wants to build four new smaller nuclear reactors at the shuttered site.
When Oyster Creek closed in 2018 as one of the oldest nuclear plants in the nation, it left two such facilities in New Jersey: the Salem Generating Station and Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station, both located in Lower Alloways Creek Township in Salem County. Together, they operate three utility-scale reactors and produce more than 40% of the state’s total electricity.