April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. utility NiSource said on Thursday it had signed a long-term energy supply agreement with a unit of Alphabet to support a large data center in northern Indiana.
The company also said it had expanded an agreement with Amazon to speed up power delivery to its sites and bring forward bill credits for households.
• Big Tech firms have been scouring for new, reliable and cleaner energy sources to power their rapidly expanding data centers, which are being driven by the increasing use of artificial-intelligence applications.
• GenCo is NiSource's model that supplies power to large customers using dedicated generation and market resources, while shielding existing customers from added costs and delivering system-wide savings.
• The GenCo model aims to ensure existing customers benefit from new large users, with savings estimated at about $1.25 billion, or $90 to $115 a year per household.
• NIPSCO and GenCo will provide generation and transmission infrastructure to serve data centers, with about 340 megawatts from a GenCo-owned portfolio supplemented by up to 175 megawatts of seasonal market purchases.
• Lawmakers in Maine voted earlier this week for a bill that would halt new large data center approvals as concerns mount that the rapid buildout of power-guzzling facilities could strain local grids and push up household energy bills.
• "The cost savings announced today expand on the previously announced $1 billion in customer savings with Amazon as we continue to work closely with a broad coalition of stakeholders to bring this GenCo vision to life," said NiSource President and CEO Lloyd Yates.
• The power supply for Alphabet was expected to begin in summer 2026, the company said.
(Reporting by Varun Sahay in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
