Wisconsin regulators took the unprecedented step Thursday of forcing the developer of a $1.4 billion power line to restart a yearlong approval process, leaving the timeline for one of the Midwest’s largest data centers in limbo.
The Public Service Commission’s 3-0 vote was technical in nature. It revoked a “completeness determination” granted in December for American Transmission Co.’s (ATC) application for the 100-mile high-voltage line that would deliver power to the Stargate data center in Port Washington, Wisconsin.
It was the first time in the PSC’s 95-year history it has taken such action, according to ATC. It also has potentially huge ramifications for the $15 billion data center project and the companies behind it — Vantage Data Centers as well as tech giants Oracle and OpenAI.
Wisconsin commissioners made clear that their actions “should not be misconstrued as rejection of this [power line] project.” But they said their hands were tied by the many changes to the project in recent months that hampered the public’s ability to weigh in and the commission staff’s ability to analyze its impact.
