AI is commissioning its own grid

Google signed two large power agreements on October 6. Black Hills Corp. plans $1.8 billion of new generation spending from 2027 through 2029 for a proposed Google data center in Cheyenne. Separately, Constellation Energy says its 3.59-gigawatt agreement with Google is tied to more than $4.3 billion of new fleet investment.^[1][2]

The Wyoming bill

The Cheyenne project calls for 564 megawatts of new generation and a 2.7-gigawatt resource mix including reserves. Black Hills expects deliveries to begin in late 2027 and peak load in 2030. Google is contractually responsible for the full cost of serving the data center, so those expenses are not supposed to land on other utility customers. That consumer shield matters; utility ratepayers have already heard enough speeches about everybody sharing the benefits while they share the invoice.^[1][3]

The PJM bill

The Constellation deal includes a 20-year agreement for 890 megawatts from upgraded nuclear plants and a 15-year agreement for another 2,700 megawatts in PJM. The first upgraded nuclear unit is expected to deliver in 2028. Constellation's public post describes the nuclear portion as capacity equivalent to a new reactor, backed by more than $4.3 billion in private investment.^[2][4]

PJM is not exactly swimming in spare capacity. Reuters reports its capacity prices have risen more than elevenfold since 2024, while management has proposed that data centers bring their own power or accept remote curtailment during peaks. The policy argument has moved past whether AI needs electricity. The question is who builds it, who pays for it and who gets priority when the grid is tight.^[2]

So yes, Google is still a software company. It is also commissioning generation, underwriting fleet upgrades and stitching together private power arrangements at utility scale. The cloud used to rent servers. AI is ordering the grid now.