The same centers, however, are consuming an increasingly large slice of the electricity pie. According to EPRI, data centers now use around 11% of Oregon’s power and 6% in Washington. The AI boom is accelerating demand even faster, with next-gen facilities requiring up to 100 megawatts of capacity—enough to power a small city.
Though both states have made progress in reducing carbon emissions by phasing out coal and investing in renewables, that story is incomplete. Only a handful of utilities—just six across both states—have absorbed the majority of new data center load. Of these, five now rely far more heavily on "unspecified power" purchased from wholesale markets, which is often more carbon-intensive than legacy hydropower.
Hydropower itself remains out of reach for most large data centers due to federal restrictions. Under the Northwest Power Act, publicly owned utilities can’t use Bonneville Power Administration energy for new single loads over 10 megawatts. That means much of the region’s cleanest power is unavailable to the very companies driving demand, despite public perception.
While some fear regulation could push data centers toward states with looser environmental standards, others see an opening for innovation. One option gaining traction: enabling tech companies to act as financial anchors for new grid infrastructure. As "anchor tenants," they could guarantee the demand needed to justify major transmission projects, thereby accelerating clean energy delivery across the region.
Oregon’s proposed HB 3546 would create a special rate class for large facilities, ensuring that data centers shoulder their proportional share of the grid investment costs. This model could serve as a blueprint for how private capital helps underwrite public energy upgrades.
Additionally, updating green tariff programs could empower utilities and companies to co-invest in emerging technologies. Nevada’s NV Energy and Google have already piloted this concept, using a tailored tariff to fund advanced geothermal energy—a venture the utility might not have pursued alone. Similar structures could help the Northwest move beyond merely supplying clean energy to tech firms and toward collaborating on new energy development.
There’s also untapped potential in how data centers interact with the grid itself. Research suggests that if facilities reduced power draw for short durations—a few hours spread across a week each year—the region could support up to 3.8 GW of new data center capacity without expanding the grid. As AI workloads become more flexible, the opportunity for "grid-interactive" facilities that stabilize power demand is becoming more realistic.
