How Rowan is Honoring the Ratepayer Protection Pledge
Last week, Rowan Digital Infrastructure signed the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge. We signed the pledge to affirm our commitment to responsible data center development that supports grid reliability and protects electricity ratepayers by ensuring new large-load customers pay for all new power delivery infrastructure upgrades required to service data centers.
The growth of digital infrastructure is creating new opportunities for economic development, innovation, and American competitiveness. But meeting this demand requires thoughtful coordination among developers, utilities, regulators, hyperscale customers, and communities.
At Rowan, responsible development means planning early, investing in the infrastructure we require, supporting grid reliability, and ensuring the benefits of new development are shared locally.
Signing the pledge is one thing. Here’s how Rowan is honoring it.
Build, Bring, or Buy New Power Supply
Rowan supports power solutions that add new supply to the grid rather than increasing competition for existing power resources.
As part of our development process, we evaluate a range of energy solutions — including build-your-own-generation (BYOG), build-your-own-capacity (BYOC), on-site generation, energy storage, and other supply-side solutions — to improve reliability and reduce grid impacts.
We recognize that large-load customers have a responsibility to help address the energy challenges created by increasing demand. That means engaging early with utilities and regulators to align energy supply requirements before major project commitments are made.
Through proactive planning and collaboration, Rowan works to ensure new digital infrastructure is supported by the energy resources and transmission infrastructure needed to serve it reliably.
Pay for New Power Delivery Infrastructure Upgrades
Rowan supports cost-causation principles: customers creating new demand should help fund the infrastructure investments required to serve that demand.
Large-scale digital infrastructure requires significant coordination and investment across generation, transmission, and distribution systems. Rowan supports approaches that ensure these costs are appropriately allocated while avoiding duplicative or punitive charges that can create unnecessary barriers to investment and development.
We support policies that discourage speculative load requests and preserve grid access for projects that are viable, committed, and ready to move forward with speed and conviction.
As projects advance, Rowan evaluates a range of infrastructure funding mechanisms — including customer contributions, aid-to-construction (CIAC) arrangements, financial security requirements for grid upgrades or energy procurement, and minimum billing obligations — to ensure utilities can confidently invest while avoiding double recovery of costs.
Pay Whether We Use the Power or Not
Rowan supports fair minimum billing and reservation structures that reflect the actual investments utilities make to serve large customers.
Developing new energy infrastructure requires long-term planning and significant upfront commitments from utilities. Responsible customers must provide appropriate certainty that those investments will be supported.
Rowan works with utilities and counterparties to coordinate take-or-pay obligations with CIAC commitments, deposits, letters of credit, and other financial assurances.
Our goal is to establish service agreements that protect ratepayers while ensuring capacity reservation commitments remain reasonable, proportional, and aligned with actual utility costs.
Invest in Local Job Creation and Workforce Development
Rowan’s commitment to responsible infrastructure development extends beyond energy.
We believe large-scale digital infrastructure projects should serve as long-term economic engines in the communities where they operate. That means investing in workforce development, supporting local initiatives, and creating pathways for residents to benefit from the new economic opportunities we are creating.
Rowan works with local partners to support training programs, educational initiatives, community organizations, and other investments that help translate development into measurable local outcomes — including jobs, tax revenue, and community infrastructure improvements.
Contribute to Electric and Community Resilience
Reliability is a shared responsibility.
Rowan evaluates demand response, capacity curtailment, backup generation, energy storage, and other operational flexible load measures as tools to support electric reliability during periods of grid stress or emergency conditions.
As part of project planning and customer agreements, Rowan considers reliability requirements and opportunities for facilities to operate as responsible grid partners.
We also engage proactively with regional transmission organizations (RTOs), independent system operators (ISOs), utilities, and state utility commissions to support practical solutions that strengthen grid resilience while enabling critical digital infrastructure growth.
Commitments Extend to Water Infrastructure
While it’s not outlined in the White House pledge, for Rowan, the same principles apply to water infrastructure — where local impacts can be even more important because water utilities are highly localized and closely tied to community priorities.
Just as we do with power providers, Rowan works with water utilities to improve system reliability, funding the infrastructure our projects require through contributions in aid of construction, and ensuring those costs are not shifted unfairly to existing customers.
This makes early coordination, transparent cost allocation, and clear hyperscale customer commitments essential to protecting local water ratepayers while strengthening the systems communities depend on.
Building the Infrastructure America Needs, Responsibly
The digital infrastructure being built today will support some of America’s most important industries, from artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing to healthcare, research, and national security.
Meeting that demand requires more than speed. We believe it requires responsibility.
By signing the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge, Rowan is reaffirming our commitment to adding new energy resources, investing in the infrastructure we require, honoring our commitments to utilities, creating local economic opportunity, and supporting more reliable public infrastructure.
Responsible growth is the foundation of a stronger future.
