The requirements apply to data centers using or capable of using at least 20 MW; they also cover existing smaller data centers if they expand to meet that threshold.

A covered data center must obtain a Public Utility Commission-approved large load service equity contract to receive electric service. Approval requires a finding that the contract promotes the State’s general good and meets specified grid, economic-benefit, energy-planning, transmission, ratepayer-protection, and environmental-justice criteria.

The service contract must last at least 10 years and require minimum payments based on projected electricity use, charges for excess demand, and collateral to prevent stranded costs. It must also address applicable taxes, efficiency charges, and other fees, and provide for load curtailment priorities during grid emergencies.

The contract must protect other ratepayer classes from data-center deployment costs, including costs for new generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure and energy capacity and resource adequacy.

The Commission must review approved contracts at least once every two years to check compliance, and may review them sooner for good cause or to protect the public interest.

Data centers cannot participate in energy savings accounts, customer credit programs, or self-managed energy efficiency programs.

Before applying for an Act 250 permit, a proposed data center must complete a site-suitability analysis in consultation with its electric company and the designated efficiency utility. The analysis must assess building energy standards, on-site renewables, battery storage, demand response, and potential waste-heat recovery.

Data-center design and construction must comply with State energy-efficiency requirements and best practices and maximize the site’s potential to host renewable energy.

Combustion-based backup generation may be used only during power failures or interruptions; otherwise, the data center must prioritize battery storage and on-site renewable generation to the greatest extent practicable.

A data center must maximize on-site renewable generation to the greatest extent technically feasible. Generation that directly emits air contaminants through fuel combustion generally does not qualify, and renewable-energy certificates or environmental attributes from qualifying plants must be transferred to the electric company.

A data center must make annual energy-transformation payments to a fund managed by the electric company. The payment is based on 60 percent of electricity use multiplied by the applicable alternative-compliance payment rate, with advance payments based on projected use and later reconciliation.

A data center must participate in the electric company’s virtual power plant if available and technically feasible; otherwise, it must develop and operate a self-managed virtual power plant in coordination with the electric company.

Data centers must submit quarterly reports beginning within three months after becoming operational, documenting water and energy use, daily peak use, and payments toward shared infrastructure. The reports are open to public inspection and copying.

Data-center construction is subject to Act 250 review, including construction on land within a Tier 1A area.

A data center using water for cooling must use a closed-loop system or an alternative approved by a District Commission. An alternative cannot use more water than a comparable closed-loop system and requires findings that it will minimize surface- or groundwater use and will not unreasonably burden water resources.

A data center using water for cooling must identify the water source and discharge location.

Any groundwater withdrawal for cooling requires a groundwater-withdrawal permit, regardless of the usual 57,600-gallon-per-day threshold; a closed-loop system is not exempt.

A data center using surface water for cooling must obtain a surface-water withdrawal permit and stop withdrawals during drought conditions.

Data centers must obtain applicable Agency of Natural Resources water-quality and water-resource permits, including permits for stormwater, stream alteration, direct discharge, surface- and groundwater withdrawals, wetlands, and river-corridor development.

If a data center proposes to use more than 150,000 gallons per day of surface water, the Agency must assess specified ecological and water impacts as part of permit review. The Agency may lower that threshold by rule.

Data centers discharging waste into State surface waters must monitor for detectable PFAS and meet Vermont Water Quality Standards. If no PFAS criteria exist and the data center withdraws water for cooling, it must monitor PFAS at the withdrawal point; PFAS in cooling-system discharge cannot exceed the level detected in the withdrawn water.

A data center may obtain electric service through a large-load service equity contract approved by the Public Utility Commission. Approval is conditional on findings that the contract promotes the State’s general good and meets specified reliability, economic-benefit, planning, transmission, and equity tests; contracts must last at least 10 years.

For cooling, a data center may use an alternative to a closed-loop system if a District Commission approves it, finds it uses no more water than a comparable closed-loop system, and determines it will minimize water use and not unreasonably burden water resources.

The measure provides for data centers to use on-site renewable generation, battery storage, and demand-response resources as part of their energy and grid-management arrangements. Data centers must assess and, where technically feasible, maximize these resources; this is not a financial subsidy.

A data center may participate in an electric company’s virtual power plant if one is available and technically feasible, or otherwise establish a self-managed virtual power plant in coordination with the electric company.

As introduced, the bill would bar operating an AI data center or beginning site preparation or construction for one before July 1, 2030. It defines an AI data center as a facility requiring more than 100 megawatts of new load dedicated to AI inference, training, simulation, or synthetic data generation. The proposed moratorium covers those activities and that threshold.

The moratorium applies only to facilities requiring more than 100 megawatts of new load dedicated to AI uses, so facilities at or below that threshold are outside its scope.