The gas-fired power plant will produce twice as much energy as the fiber-optic data center needs, leaving half the power available to flow into the grid to be sold to the Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation, a wholesale utility that powers Newark, New Castle, Middletown, Clayton, Smyrna, Dover, Milford, Lewes and Seaford.

“Newark is very pleased [about the probable partnership],” said City Manager Carol Houck. “We believe it was bring with it many benefits.”

Gene Kern, CEO of The Data Centers, said there are advantages to a data center having its own power supply.  First, electricity is the biggest expense for the fiber-optic data center. Second, local power outages will have no impact on fiber-optic service.