President & CEO
Data centers might seem like a big-city issue, but more of them are showing up in rural communities like ours—and there’s good reason for that.
Rural areas offer what data centers need most: affordable land, room to grow and access to transmission lines that can move large amounts of power.
Right now, we don’t have any data centers in our service area, but it’s still important to understand how they could affect the cooperative.
What makes data centers different from other large businesses is how they use electricity. These facilities run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Servers must stay online constantly, which means power must be reliable every minute of every day.
For Lynches River Electric Cooperative, the possibility of powering data centers creates both opportunities and challenges.
On the plus side, data centers have the potential to bring steady, long-term load growth that helps support investments in the local grid.
With proper planning and policy support, those upgrades—including new substations, stronger lines and smarter technology—could benefit all LREC members and help keep electricity rates steady.
But providing power to data centers presents challenges, too.
Building the infrastructure to support them—such as new lines, substations and the equipment needed to deliver reliable electricity—takes time and a financial investment.
That’s why good planning, strong partnerships and long-term power strategies are so important. Central Electric Power Cooperative, LREC’s provider of wholesale generation and transmission solutions, helps us maximize benefits without putting affordability and reliability at risk.
When a data center comes calling, developers will first coordinate with LREC and Central on capacity needs and planning. Developers not only pay for all the costs to interconnect to our system, but they are also financially responsible for the initial studies that determine the scope and feasibility of the electric infrastructure and power that we need to provide. It’s only after all parties agree that construction would move forward.
Our priority will be supporting growth with fairness. That means ensuring largescale energy users pay their fair share so residential bills don’t spike and our local communities feel invested in.
Our responsibility is to the communities we serve and to provide reliable, affordable electric service to all LREC members.
As new types of large-scale energy users—such as data centers—become part of the local landscape, LREC’s board and employees are committed to ensuring all decisions reflect the best interests of the people we serve.
If you have questions or concerns regarding data centers, your energy bills or any other co-op matters, we encourage you to stay engaged and reach out.
BRIAN W. BROUGHTON
President & CEO