Amazon wants to build data centers on 2,000 acres of land at Constellation Energy’s Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant in Southern Maryland.

Plans obtained by The Banner through a public information act request lay out the e-commerce and web services company’s intention to build seven facilities across three campuses. These would be the first large-scale data centers in Calvert County — and residents there have questions.

Amazon representatives said the company would cover the cost of its own electrical supply as well as the cost of transmission line upgrades.

Massive data centers have been at the center of debates in recent years for their role in increasing electric bills and straining power grids. Maryland doesn’t have many massive data centers; most are proposals, under construction or currently on ice following scrutiny from communities.

Still, the state’s utility customers’ advocate said last year that the forecast energy demand on the region’s power grid from these massive facilities could saddle Maryland ratepayers with an $800 million bill.

As of now, there is no deal between Amazon and Constellation for the data center project, said Paul Adams, a spokesperson for Constellation. The energy company “is in conversations with a host of leading data center partners.”

Adams also said the company can’t comment “publicly on those confidential discussions or any preliminary and exploratory state permit applications.”

Becky Ford, a representative of Amazon Web Services’ global infrastructure expansion team, said at a Calvert County community meeting last week that the project is still in the evaluation stage with no existing agreements or submitted site plans.

Amazon’s proposed 500 megawatt data center campuses — that’s enough to power more than 375,000 homes, according to energy analysts — would connect to the PJM Interconnection power grid and enter into a power-purchase agreement with Constellation Energy, Adams said.

Constellation has been pursuing an array of deals with data center developers. Last year, the company announced a 20-year power-purchase agreement with Microsoft that would include restarting a nuclear reactor at its Three Mile Island facility (renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Regulators are assessing it.

Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez has floated the idea of positioning data centers at its Maryland nuclear facility. Dominguez planned to announce a “new data economy deal” this week at the company’s quarterly earnings call, but said he had to change course due to ongoing regulatory discussions with the regional grid operator and President Donald Trump’s recent moves. Last month, the White House announced that AI companies will pledge to pay to power data centers.

“Constellation can structure deals now to power America’s growth in AI with our firm and clean nuclear power,” Dominguez said Tuesday on the investor call.

At an event with state lawmakers last November, Dominguez said that “Maryland is a very attractive location for many of our clients to look at, because it’s proximate to the fiber network in Northern Virginia and to the NSA complex’s computing capability.”

A closer look

According to the documents, the data center project would consist of three campuses on Constellation’s property, each within a mile of the nuclear plant, which was recently renamed the Calvert Cliffs Energy Center.

The first site would include two 225,000-square-foot facilities; an entrance gate; access-control, support and utility buildings; and four storage tanks for industrial cooling.

The second campus, about a half-mile south of the first, would be nearly identical in detail.

The third would be on the southern border of the property and have three 225,000-square-foot buildings with five industrial cooling tanks.

It’s unclear if the data centers would use backup diesel generators, which are commonplace at other massive facilities.

If the project were to move forward, Amazon would be served by the Southern Maryland Energy Cooperative as a large-load customer and would enter into a long-term transmission security agreement with Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., said Mike Fradette, an energy specialist at Amazon Web Services, at the March 26 community meeting in Calvert County.

Such an agreement would require entities like Amazon to “make firm financial commitments for the transmission service,” Nick Alexopulos, spokesperson for BGE, said in an email. “That means other customers would not be responsible for covering the cost to connect a large-load customer and serve them.”

A switching station and a new connection to BGE’s transmission system are also necessary to help power the data center facilities.

Tom Dennison, a spokesperson for the Southern Maryland Energy Cooperative, said in an email to The Banner that “any data center seeking to build in Southern Maryland must directly pay the full cost for all electric transmission or distribution system buildout required to interconnect the data center and provide electric service.”

Representatives for Amazon Web Services told the community that the site for the prospective project was chosen in part because of its proximity to three high-voltage transmission lines.

It’s “a good opportunity for a data center to come in and secure highly reliable, scalable power,” and, because Amazon would cover the costs of upgrades, it could help with grid capacity as well, Fradette said.

The company’s representatives said the data center would use water from the nuclear plant for its chip-cooling process.

More than 150 acres of trees would need to be cleared to accommodate the data center campuses, according to email correspondence from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources that was reviewed by The Banner.

The project would also impact Parran’s Park and the Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, two properties listed on the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties, according to emails obtained and reviewed by The Banner.

“Data Center 1 extends well into the MIHP boundary, cutting off access to two of the tobacco barns, and will significantly alter the landscape of Parran’s Park,” one email from a Maryland Historical Trust employee reads.

As for the Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, “most of its northwest section will be obliterated by Data Center campus 1.”

The Maryland Historical Trust recommended that the first campus be moved southeast to avoid direct impacts on both properties.

A separate project

Last year, Calvert County’s commissioners passed a zoning ordinance that allowed for the land near the nuclear plant and two other parcels to be zoned for heavy industry, ultimately opening the door to data centers.

It’s unclear when plans for the data center at Calvert Cliffs originated, but a concept site plan called “Calvert County Data Center Project” dates to November 2024, according to documents obtained by The Banner.

Another separate proposal for a Calvert County data center campus was recently unveiled. This one is roughly 6 miles south of Amazon’s proposed campuses.

Natelli Holdings, a family-owned real estate firm based in Gaithersburg, presented a plan to county commissioners March 24 to purchase and redevelop a former Dominion Energy site that the county now owns. Four data center buildings, two stories high and 220,000 square feet each, would be built on around 133 acres.

The developer expects the project to have an energy demand of 300 megawatts.

Some Calvert County residents have pushed back against the development of data centers, expressing concern about environmental impacts and their quality of life.

Residents also have criticized their elected officials for signing nondisclosure agreements with data center developers, seeing them as backroom deals where the public could have no say until it’s too late.

Calvert County government did not respond to a request for comment.