A new state law signed earlier this month by Gov. Kelly Ayotte allows for off-grid energy providers in New Hampshire, part of a larger Republican-backed effort to make the state more attractive to the cryptocurrency industry.
These off-grid providers, which would operate independently from the state’s energy grid, could connect directly to specific buyers while bypassing regulations related to pricing and renewables.
New Hampshire — and New England as a whole — has some of the highest energy costs in the country. Connecting to the grid also requires a “complicated” process which can be difficult and costly, said Rep. Michael Vose, the sponsor of the bill behind the off-grid energy law. The new law creates a new pathway to circumvent those challenges.
“Crypto is hungry for electricity,” Vose said. “What this legislation will potentially do is allow someone that wants to create a crypto mining business to connect with someone who wants to provide electricity and . . . obtain electricity at a lower cost.”
Noah Berman, senior policy advocate and utility innovation program manager at the energy think tank Acadia Center, said the law could protect consumers from energy price spikes which usually follow when power-hungry businesses come into town.
“This could potentially reduce demand if facilities choose to go this direction, but I don't think in the short term there are any realistic residential price impacts,” Berman said.
Other states, including Texas and Ohio, are having to deal with those price spikes retroactively, attempting to come up with ways to reduce the impact of data centers on their grids.
Protection from such spikes would only materialize if this law gets widely used by the industry, which, on the flip-side, could also introduce new challenges, Berman said. He is worried about what New Hampshire’s new law could mean for renewable energy goals, since off-grid providers would not be required to meet state renewable energy standards.
“The environmental impacts would be quite negative if this pathway gets significant uptake in such a way that, for instance, brings many new diesel generators online all around the state,” Berman said.
According to Vose, the law is trying to encourage small nuclear reactors in the state and was originally combined with another bill that failed this legislative session which would allow state utilities to buy nuclear power from small reactors.
“This isn't about renewable energy or nonrenewable energy,” Vose said. “This is just about how you provide electricity, how you create it and then who buys it.”
Some Democrats raised concerns about incentivizing large data centers in the state. Beyond consuming a lot of power, data centers also require resources like water and land.
But for Democratic Sen. David Watters, a supporter of the new law, other limits on the operation of data centers might still be enacted.
“That's going to be a much larger issue,” Watters said.
For Vose, luring data centers to New Hampshire is a good economic move and could lead to the creation of new high-paying jobs.
“Whether it’s a small modular reactor or a natural gas plant or a solar generation facility . . . if it can get built more quickly and at lower cost because of this legislation in order to support a data center or some other big user, it’s a win for New Hampshire,” Vose said.
