Consumer Liaison Group examines data center growth

The second 2026 meeting of the Consumer Liaison Group (CLG) centered on the rapid growth in other parts of the country of large load demand, particularly data centers, and the challenges and opportunities this trend presents for New England’s power system, communities, and policymakers. 

A video recording and summary of the June 2 meeting in Lowell, Massachusetts, are available online. 

Regine Spector, CLG Coordinating Committee co-chair and faculty member at UMass Amherst, provided opening remarks and gave an overview of the group. After Spector introduced the discussion topic, Nathan Phillips, a Coordinating Committee member and faculty member at Boston University, spoke about the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence and the role of democracy in addressing these emerging issues. 

For the community welcome, Jake Fortes, co-founder of Honest Future for Lowell, outlined the development of large-scale data centers and their impacts on local communities, such as noise pollution, air emissions, power reliability issues, and the effects that growing facilities might have on neighborhoods that they are sited in.  

Eric Johnson, executive director of External Affairs at ISO New England, delivered a regional grid update and highlighted key informational resources available to the public. Johnson also gave a brief overview of the 2025 Annual Markets Report, which was issued by the ISO’s Internal Market Monitor in May. 

During the first panel discussion, John Goodhue, executive director of the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center, and Megan Lim, of the Cross Campus Climate Coalition, Run on Climate, and the GreyEdge Group, dove into lessons learned from past development of data facilities and examined strategies for responsible development of future facilities.

On a later panel, Victoria Rojo, supervisor of load forecasting at ISO-NE, discussed the new components of the 2026 Forecast Report of Capacity, Energy, Loads, and Transmission (CELT Report). Cathy Kristofferson, from the Pipe Line Awareness Network for the Northeast, and Rosemary Wessel, from the Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT), discussed infrastructure constraints, timing mismatches between load growth and system upgrades, and limited visibility into behind-the-meter generation. 

David Lapp, people’s counsel for the state of Maryland, gave a closing keynote address, which featured insights from the PJM Interconnection region, where data center growth has been increasing and highly concentrated. 

The next CLG meeting, scheduled for Sept. 24 in Portland, Maine, will focus on energy storage and its role in supporting reliability and integrating renewable resources into the New England power system. 

For the latest information on the meetings and to view past presentations, visit the Consumer Liaison Group webpage.