US utility Portland General Electric (PGE) said that data center load demand increased noticeably, as operators increased their footprint in Oregon.
The company also noted that semiconductor manufacturing development accounted for half of its industrial sector load. Industrial load increased 6.2 percent (weather-adjusted) compared to the same quarter in 2023.
"In addition to Intel's recent $36 billion announcement, LAM Research is completing a new R&D facility in Tualatin. And Analog Devices and Siltronic are expanding in Beaverton and Portland respectively," CEO Maria Pope said, crediting the CHIPS Act.
"We're also seeing meaningful growth among our region's data center sector. These customers are enabled by the transpacific subsea fiber landings on the west side of our service territory, similar to the transatlantic network landings in Northern Virginia. Growth from both these important sectors represent an exciting opportunity for our region, bringing quality jobs and infrastructure improvements at a level we have not seen in over 50 years."
Pope said that chip manufacturing growth was slower than data centers, but would last into the next decade. "Twenty percent of our customers are based in the fastest growing area for that industrial section, our data centers," Pope said.
"And there we're seeing really quite significant growth. In addition to the infrastructure investments of new substations and transmission, what we're also seeing is need for greater amounts of renewable energy... That's probably what would influence our growth rate more than anything."
