In early 2023, NE Edge, led by President Thomas Quinn, began talking with Waterford about constructing two data center buildings and a switchyard at the Millstone site. The buildings would house thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs) that would be used to train and operate artificial intelligence. The discussions led to a unanimous decision by the Representative Town Meeting and First Selectman Rob Brule to enter into a host fee agreement with the company. The agreement set a payment to the town of $231 million in lieu of taxes over 30 years, and set forth guidelines on sound and environmental impact. Quinn has said the project would be powered by 300 megawatts of electricity from Millstone’s two operating nuclear reactors, which is approximately 15% of the plant’s output. None of the state’s existing data centers compare to the NE Edge project due to its much larger size, which Quinn and industry experts have said is necessary due to its intended use for artificial intelligence. But in recent years, data center demand both here and nationwide has been driven by a different technology ― the increasing appetite for artificial intelligence, which requires immense amounts of data. That has pushed the need for a new type of data center, ones that need bigger buildings filled with hundreds more servers, and require more power and cooling.
These kinds of data centers have been dubbed “hyperscale,” a term that reflects their supersized approach to data storage. There’s no industry-standard guidelines for what qualifies a data center as hyperscale.
https://archive.ph/eO16x#selection-1847.0-1851.210