State regulators last year greenlit new gas- and diesel-fired turbines to meet spiking energy demand that Georgia Power said comes mostly from data centers. Now, the utility is asking to keep coal plants open longer than planned for the same reason. Electric co-ops, too, including Meta’s power supplier, are planning to add non-renewable resources to power data centers and other large power users. 

These utilities are still adding solar and other renewables. But the influx of fossil fuels, mostly to serve data centers, is a major shift that could have serious consequences for climate change.

Morans.