Electric Co-ops Manage Unprecedented Data Center Growth

Electric Co-ops Manage Unprecedented Data Center Growth

From Along Those Lines by NRECA

December 15, 2025 · 39 min · Season 7 · Episode 13

About this episode

The episode discusses the surge in data center development and its implications for electric co-ops.

Data center development is surging to meet demand for cloud applications, cryptocurrency, streaming services and AI. Electric co-ops are at the center of it, with some fielding multiple new requests at a time to serve data centers. These large loads can benefit co-ops and their communities in a number of ways—and they also pose a host of challenges. Learn more from NRECA's Allison Hamilton, Wabash Valley Power Alliance's Jeff Conrad and Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp.'s JD Lowery.

People in this episode

Guests: Allison Hamilton, Jeff Conrad, JD Lowery

Topics covered

  • data centers
  • electric co-ops
  • cloud applications
  • cryptocurrency
  • streaming services
  • AI

Keywords

  • data center growth
  • electric cooperatives
  • community benefits
  • challenges

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