A 1.8-gigawatt data center, a $20 billion price tag, and a letter of credit for one dollar. That’s the collateral under PowerHouse Hillwood’s contract with ComEd, and FERC Commissioner David LaCerte’s line about it is hard to improve on: “less than the price of a cup of coffee.” ComEd tried to cancel the contract and FERC rejected the cancellation. I only have the summary, so I can’t say how much of that turned on the dollar and how much on procedure. The dollar is what stuck with me.

For a month I’ve been reading about large-load tariffs discovering upfront payments, exit fees, and ramp schedules, and this is the reason in its purest form. Asking for 1.8 GW costs nothing, and on a planner’s spreadsheet the ask looks the same as a real project. Texas just halved its financial security requirement and went to a flat study fee, so the fix isn’t marching in a straight line. ComEd sits inside PJM, the same grid whose 2030 worst case came out more than 100 times worse than its own reliability criterion if data center growth keeps up. How many of those modeled gigawatts are backed by a dollar? Nobody knows, and that’s most of the problem.

Anyone who has priced an option knows what a free one is worth to the holder. It’s worth a lot, and the cost lands on whoever has to keep transformers and transmission ready in case the holder shows up. For now, ComEd is that party, bound to a customer whose commitment fits in a tip jar.

Somewhere a load forecaster is deciding how much of the queue to believe. I’d like to see that spreadsheet with a column for collateral.

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