IURC Approves AES-Google $737 Million Monrovia Data Center Plan

The commission unanimously approved AES Indiana's plan to build $737.3 million in solar, battery storage, and transmission infrastructure to serve a 390-megawatt Google data center in Monrovia, Morgan County. This is the first case decided under Indiana's 2025 large-load law, House Enrolled Act 1007, under which large-load customers must bear a minimum of 80% of the costs allocated to them. Generation comes from three projects built by Invenergy and AES across Pike, Lake, and Clinton counties, connected by a new 10-mile, 345-kilovolt line. Google is paying $32.3 million directly for its own connection facilities and has agreed to a 15-year contract with a $300 million fixed-cost floor, well above the statutory minimum. But the commission placed $73.8 million in broader network upgrades into AES's transmission rate base, over the objection of the Citizens Action Coalition, which argued the data center, not other ratepayers, should cover those costs. That $73.8 million allocation is the first precedent set under HEA 1007, and every future large-load filing in Indiana will point back to it. NiSource is pursuing its own Amazon and Microsoft data center deals, so AES is not the only utility setting these terms for your rate class. The original Google contract terms are covered in AES Indiana Locks Google Into $1.3B Infrastructure Deal, and the acquisition tangled up in the rate case is covered in AES Indiana's BlackRock Buyout Reaching FERC.