When I was a little kid, I distinctly remember being taught about the importance of conservation. Don’t let the tap run. Don’t leave the lights on. Shut the dang fridge, we’re not trying to cool the whole house!
Perhaps that’s why artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency mining bug some of us out. Excessive energy use is baked into the very core of those technologies and many others that rely on mass computation to create god (or make fun little shiba inu tokens!) in machines.
But what if the power those power suckers sucked was renewable?
Soluna Holdings, a New York-based developer of green data centers for intensive computing applications, announced in late February that it secured 60 acres of land in Texas to build a new data center called Project Rosa. Rosa will provide up to 187 megawatts (MW) of sustainable energy specifically allocated to support high-performance computing tasks like Bitcoin mining and AI, and it will be strategically co-located with a 240 MW wind farm, allowing the project to harness a substantial share of its renewable energy directly.
John Belizaire, chief executive officer of Soluna, called securing the necessary permits a “critical achievement” for his company.
“Project Rosa not only enhances our operational capacity but also reinforces our commitment to delivering sustainable, cutting-edge solutions in high-performance computing,” he added.
While unique, Rosa is far from Soluna’s first foray into the worlds of renewable energy and cryptomining/AI.
Access to power has become the key driver of AI and data center growth, prompting the need for new solutions among utilities, developers, and other stakeholders. This demand growth will test grid reliability, requiring new ways of collaboration and policy structures.
A new DISTRIBUTECH event, DTECH Data Centers & AI, will help stakeholders in this burgeoning industry navigate power constraints and project delays while balancing the demand for sustainable, flexible solutions. Influential executives and thought leaders will assemble in San José, California, from May 27-29, 2025, to discuss how AI is transforming the utility landscape and explore ways power providers can manage increasing demand while utilizing the revolutionary tools promised by new technologies.
Registration for DTECH Data Centers & AI is now open – secure your spot today!
We’re not in Kansas, Dorothy
On March 25, Soluna announced it had received final approval from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to energize and commission Project Dorothy 2 in Silverton, the developer’s flagship Texas-based data center, also designed to integrate seamlessly with renewable energy sources. The initial energization for the first 18 MW will be fully ramped in Q2 2025, and the remaining two phases totaling 30 MW will be completed by Q4 2025, per Soluna. The facility is connected to a 150 MW wind farm, providing a scalable solution to reduce curtailment and optimize clean energy usage.
“The energization of Project Dorothy 2 builds on the success of Project Dorothy 1, demonstrating how Soluna’s approach to curtailment solutions and sustainable computing can be scaled efficiently,” offered Belizaire. “As we expand our Bitcoin Hosting capacity, we continue to attract the industry’s top Hyperscaler miners with our white glove service model called Relentless Stewardship.”
Dorothy significantly adds to Soluna’s total Bitcoin Hosting capacity (its primary revenue source), bringing it to 123 MW when fully ramped, validating the scalability that Belizaire deems “the next wave of clean, efficient infrastructure for Bitcoin hosting and AI.
Dortothy 2’s predecessors, Dorothy 1A and 1B (who picked these, George Foreman?), were online for all of 2024, generating $13.7 million and $17.0 million in Bitcoin hosting and mining revenue, respectively. Soluna reported revenue growth of 80.5% last year, reaching $38 million, including $2.1 million from Demand Response Services (DRS).
What’s in a name?
Project Dorothy is named after Dorothy Vaughan, an African American mathematician and “human computer” who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and NASA in 1939. Its moniker continues Soluna’s tradition of naming its data centers after women who have made significant contributions to science and technology.
Project Rosa, Soluna’s newest endeavor and the impetus for this article, is named after Rosalind Franklin, a chemist whose work was central to understanding the molecular structures of DNA, RNA, and viruses.
Project Kati, a soon-to-be 166 MW Texas data center also connected to a wind farm with a nameplate capacity exceeding the site’s demand, is named after Kati Kariko, a Hungarian scientist who was instrumental in the development of mRNA-based protein therapies that help form today’s modern mRNA vaccines. Project Sophie, a 25 MW data center in Kentucky that went live in Q4 2021, gets its name from Sophie Wilson, who helped invent and deploy ARM technology, unlocking the mobile and custom chip revolution.
The Co-location Debate
In February, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted to launch a review of issues related to the co-location of power generation facilities and large loads, such as data centers, in PJM Interconnection territory. In one of the most notable recent proposals in PJM, AWS would co-locate its data center with Talen Energy’s Susquehanna Nuclear Plant in Pennsylvania and purchase power from the plant in 120 MW increments. FERC rejected the AWS-Talen proposed interconnection service agreement (ISA) and more recently led a technical conference to discuss the co-location of large loads at generating facilities.
In a review that could extend into mid-2025, FERC will examine whether PJM’s rules for large electricity users like data centers located at power plant sites are clear and fair. The core debate revolves around whether co-located loads should pay for grid services they may still benefit from, who should regulate them, and how their presence impacts grid reliability and costs.
Some proponents of co-location argue it can streamline the interconnection process, reducing the need for expensive grid upgrades and delays in bringing new generation online. Supporters have also noted that operations like cryptomining or data centers tend to locate in areas with surplus renewable energy, which can prevent wasted energy from curtailment and reduce congestion costs. Others say co-location arrangements can include benefits like demand response participation and more efficient energy use, even helping bring more generation online. A recent study from Duke University posited that 76GW of new load, equivalent to 10% of the nation’s current aggregate peak demand, could be integrated with an average annual load curtailment rate of 0.25% (i.e., if new loads can be curtailed for 0.25% of their maximum uptime) and 98GW of new load could be integrated at an average annual load curtailment rate of 0.5%.
Opponents argue that co-locating allows these large loads to bypass critical planning and reliability checks, creating unexpected demands on the grid without proper forecasting. They worry that this could lead to grid instability, unexpected power shortages, and higher costs for other consumers. Utilities and state regulators have argued that even if a facility doesn’t directly use the grid for power, it still benefits from grid services like voltage control and backup power.
Do as the Hyperscalers do
Co-locating renewable generation with data center development is far from a new concept. Hyperscalers like Google are dumping billions of dollars into similar operations.
Late last year, Intersect Power, Google, and TPG Rise Climate unveiled plans to develop industrial parks with gigawatts of data center capacity co-located with new clean energy plants to power them. The first phase of the first project is expected to come online next year and be fully complete in 2027.
This “power-first” approach to data center development is intended to increase the speed of infrastructure deployment, ease grid burden, and improve overall reliability and affordability for energy customers, Intersect Power argued. By co-locating data center load with large amounts of high-capacity factor clean electricity and added battery storage, data centers can achieve high percentages of renewable energy while reducing the transmission required to connect generation to load over longer distances.
“This partnership is an evolution of the way hyperscalers and power providers have previously worked together. We can and are developing innovative solutions to expand data center capacity while reducing the strain on the grid,” said Sheldon Kimber, CEO and founder of Intersect Power.
Under the terms of the partnership, Intersect Power will build new clean energy assets, with Google providing offtake via newly constructed data center campuses as an anchor tenant in co-located industrial parks. Once built, the Google data center would come online alongside its own clean power, bringing new generation capacity to the grid to meet its own load.
