BAAJA Bill Could Ease Data Center Power Buildout, Authors Say

The Bipartisan Affordability and Jobs Act, or BAAJA, was approved in preliminary form by a large Senate majority. The authors describe it as a legislative roadmap for new data-center generation and other power-sector changes, but caution that the draft may be revised repeatedly or fail in a newly reconstituted House of Representatives.

They say continued data-center construction requires new transmission lines and gas pipelines, limits on challenges by state attorneys general and tribal authorities, and less enforcement of existing air- and water-pollution rules. In their view, the bill addresses all three. They also point to a trend toward on-site gas generation: Anthropic announced this week a multibillion-dollar purchase of mostly gas combustion turbines for a new Texas facility. The authors estimate that proposed facilities could add 40–50 gigawatts of gas-fired generation, though they say the grid impact is uncertain because the turbines may produce power at uncompetitive prices for much of the year.

The bill’s stated aims include expanding generation and transmission, improving grid-capacity use, and connecting consumers to cheaper power. The authors say transmission growth could follow if the bill curbs legal intervention. Better use of grid capacity may be possible when data centers buy power directly from utilities at wholesale rates, but they expect that arrangement to be a minor part of future dealings.

Texas offers a possible route to cheaper power, they write. In September, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas reported requests to connect 158 gigawatts of solar, 166 gigawatts of batteries and 49 gigawatts of wind. The state currently has 38 gigawatts of installed utility-scale solar. The authors caution that not all projects will be built and that some transmission requests may be duplicates. They say cheaper power for Texas consumers could come at the expense of utility profitability.