Ridgeland data center faces Mississippi energy giants’ opposition
By Katherine Lin and Alex Rozier | Originally published by Mississippi Today
A Mississippi company owned by one of the state’s most prominent developers wants to generate its own electricity for data center and semiconductor facilities in Ridgeland.
However, it faces opposition as the state’s two largest power companies filed opposing briefs in what could be an important decision for the future of data center development in the state.
Wednesday morning, Prado AI Industrial announced it requested confirmation from the Mississippi Public Service Commission that on-site power generation for private use, including by tenants, is not considered a “public utility” and would not fall under the PSC’s jurisdiction.
The commission regulates public utility service in the state, which includes overseeing power generation projects that could impact ratepayers.
Gabriel Prado, a developer behind recent projects such as luxury apartments in Fondren and a Top Golf in Ridgeland, said he’s looking to “disrupt” the industry and bring more investment to the state.
“We know that the law is on our side, but what we’re doing is we’re setting the precedent for billions and billions of investment to come into the state in AI industrial development,” Prado said.
In a March request, Prado AI outlined plans to construct an industrial campus with a data center and semiconductor factory powered by a 350-MW natural gas plant built to exclusively power the campus. Prado AI would then lease the site to other companies.
While the PSC request said the project would be built in Ridgeland, Prado clarified that the company is evaluating sites around Mississippi to build what could be multiple AI campuses. He said that discussions are ongoing with investors and tenants but would not disclose further details.
With the support of state leaders such as Gov. Tate Reeves, the data center industry has skyrocketed in Mississippi in just the past two years. Between companies such as Amazon, xAI and others, there are now eight confirmed data center projects in the state.
By producing power for the data center, Prado argued his project won’t have any impact on other customers’ electric bills.
“Mississippi is the greatest state in the country, and this filing is about making sure we grow the AI industrial economy the right way — without putting the burden on everyday families,” said Prado, CEO and president of PraCon Global Investment Group.
But Entergy Mississippi and Mississippi Power Co., the state’s two largest power companies, argue such an arrangement would make Prado AI a public utility. Because Ridgeland is in Entergy’s certified service area, the company has exclusive rights to sell power there. By generating and distributing power to its tenants, Prado AI would be essentially selling power to the public, Entergy and Mississippi Power argued in PSC filings.
“Prado AI’s proposal” would make it a public utility, Entergy wrote in an April 13 filing, because “whether the customers of Prado AI are individual person(s) or an entity or a collection of persons … they meet the definition of the public.”
While Prado pointed to an exception that allows landlords to provide tenants electricity, the utility companies said the exception doesn’t apply to anything beyond “furnishing” the power, such as generation.
Last week, the PSC asked the Public Utilities Staff, which is in charge of advising the commission on utility regulations, to offer its input by May 15. The commission said it will then issue its opinion by June 1.
Data centers have become a key part of Entergy’s business. In its recent performance report, the company said electric service agreements with data centers will be “the primary driver for sales growth over the next four years.”
However, Prado argues that the utility companies are not able to keep up with demand and that allowing data centers to generate their own power is the future of the industry and will attract more investment to Mississippi.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump called on data centers to “provide for their own power needs” as more people are concerned about data centers’ driving up electricity rates. And with tech companies prepared to spend hundreds of billions this year to build more data centers, Prado says Mississippi needs to compete and attract more investment.
“This is going to be the framework not only for Mississippi, but we believe nationally,” Prado said.
This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Source: Original Article
