A solution to the problem of paying for data centre power? Unpacking AWS’s recent 3 gigawatt deal with NIPSCO

Feb 17, 2026

Vince Parisi, President & COO of NIPSCO, a utility leader focused on grid planning and community protection. Brandon Oyer, Head of Americas Power & Water at AWS, an expert in data center power strategy. They unpack a 3 GW ring-fenced GenCo deal that funds generation for data centers, how a 15-year commercial term and performance incentives aim to avoid cost-shifting, and why grid connection was chosen over behind‑the‑meter solutions.

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ANECDOTE

Data Centers Are The Invisible Digital Backbone

Brandon reminds listeners how often they use data centers for everyday services like banking, healthcare and emergency dispatch.
He stresses AWS invests long‑term in communities and doesn't want families to bear disproportionate costs.

INSIGHT

Ring‑Fenced Genco Aligns Costs And Incentives

AWS and NIPSCO created a ring-fenced Genco to fund 3 GW of generation that supports 2.4 GW of data center load.
The structure aligns commercial incentives and refunds $1B to customers over 15 years while keeping costs transparent.

INSIGHT

Investment Shielded From Retail Bills

NIPSCO will hold $6–7 billion of new investment in the Genco separated from retail customers and expects about $1 billion of customer savings.
The deal aims to double system capacity without shifting costs to existing customers.

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Data centres have become one of the most contentious issue in US power markets. The question of who will pay for the new generation and grid upgrades needed to keep them running has been soaring up the political agenda, and attracting attention in the White House.

Host Ed Crooks is joined on this episode by Brandon Oyer, Head of Americas Power & Water at Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Vince Parisi, President & COO at NIPSCO, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, to discuss a solution.

Together, they unpack their new agreement to develop power capacity in northern Indiana, which they say will enable AWS to add 2.4 gigawatts of data centre capacity without sticking everyone else with the bill.

Data centres are not just for AI: they are the “invisible digital backbone” behind everything from banking to healthcare to emergency services, Brandon says. But he also acknowledges that local communities around data centre developments are right to ask hard questions about costs. NIPSCO and other utilities agree. Vince says they welcome the economic activity and tax revenues that new data centres bring, but the goal for the electricity system is to ensure customers “aren’t paying for it.”

AWS and NIPSCO say their agreement, which they announced last November, will achieve that goal. In fact, they expect to save customers money, unlocking $1 billion in customer savings over 15 years.

So what actually makes this deal different, and is it a template others can copy? Brandon and Vince walk through the ring-fenced structure (a separate GenCo that funds and builds generation), the performance incentives, and why both sides landed on a 15-year commitment even as data-centre hardware cycles every few years. You’ll also hear why AWS doesn’t see its data centres as truly flexible loads, how the GenCo model let NIPSCO lock in long-lead equipment early, and what plugging this capacity into the MISO power market means for the reliability of electricity supplies.

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