St. Paul, Minnesota — On Thursday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (Commission) approved several electric service agreements submitted by Xcel Energy to provide electric service to a proposed new data center that would be owned and operated by an affiliate of Meta Platforms, Inc. (Amber Kestral, LLC). The data center will be in Rosemount, Minnesota on the northeast portion of UMore Park.

The addition of a large new customer like Meta will benefit the utility's customers because the statute requires that the proposed rate covers incremental costs of service, and fixed costs will be spread over a larger set of customers. Meta will match the annual electricity consumption at the data center through the retirement of renewable energy certificates from wind and solar projects. They will also make an annual financial contribution toward Xcel’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion efforts.

“The Commission was pleased to see broad record support for the Xcel petition,” said Commissioner Joseph Sullivan. “It will bring jobs to the community, and the record shows that when operational, the data center will be good for all ratepayers on Xcel’s system.”

The Commission approved three separate contracts proposed by Xcel:

• Retail electric service agreement, which includes the provision of service from renewable resources.
• The Competitive Rate Response Rider Agreement, which provides for the negotiated rate.
• Interconnection Agreement, which identifies the necessary electrical equipment upgrades, the timing for construction of these upgrades, and the party responsible for the costs of the upgrades.

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