AWS & Talen Fade FERC W/ FTM 1.9 GW Nuclear Deal: Vibe Check CXXXVIII

W24 '25 | 6.9-6.15.25 | Issue CXXXVIII | Block Height 901969

Jun 20, 2025

Welcome to the latest issue of the Vibe Check! Vibe Check Covers the intersection of BTC ⛏️ , data centers 🤖, and energy ⚡️through a lens of orange pills and memes.

After diving into the newsletter you’d like to stay tuned for 2025, subscribe below. While always free, the value-for-value model of the paid tier allows for further support of my Topochico fund. Drop suggestions, memes, or ideas in the comments! The Vibe Check is an open vehicle for all of us to stay on top of the latest.

W24’25 Vibe Check

Overview Vibe
BTC ⛏️ Vibe
Datacenter 🤖 Vibe
Energy ⚡️ Vibe
The Media 🎥 Vibe
The Meme 🐸 Vibe

Follow me on socials: Linkedin - Twitter!

Grab a ☕ and start the week with all the metrics and stories that shake and bake across the Bitcoin, Compute, and Energy intersection!

The Overview Vibe

Hola amigos! Bitcoin mining economics stay flat around $52-55/PH/Day while the network dropped below 900 EH/s as a response to avoid peak load summer charges during 4CP. You can see these responses in ERCOT and the Bitcoin network, love to see! While public miners continue take advantage of existing open financing windows (see BTC ⛏️ Vibe section below), the most interesting news this week was Amazon and Talen Energy fading FERC an find a path forward to their previously announced deal at the Susquehanna nuclear power plant.

In March 2024, Talen sold their colocated Cumulus Data energy campus to AWS (where Terawulf JV’d with Talen to mine Bitcoin BTM). That transaction allowed AWS to access up to 960 MW from their stake in the 2.2 GW Susquehanna nuke plant next door. The behind-the meter nature of selling power to a colocated datacenter by passed the transmission and distribution costs, which utilities like AEP and Exelon protested.

This lead FERC to reject the interconnection pact between Amazon and Talen, citing the lack of grid costs that would be paid by the agreement. Fast forwarding to 2025, the structure has pivoted to a front of the meter option where Talen will serve 1.9 GWs to Amazon and not need FERC approval. Talen will serve as the retail provider and PPL Electric Utilities.

I will be curious to see if other hyperscalers with BTM projects will pivot to this structure in order to avoid friction from FERC. How will capacity markets be impacted? Will their collaboration on SMRs accelerate due to the real demand from data centers. A gut feeling of mine tells me that keeping the Nautilus bitcoin mining on the campus as a flexible load would have been worthwhile tool if the AWS loads have minimal abilities to curtail. I’d hate for these efforts to catch political and community flack if/when there is a grid strain that could have been alleviated by flexible load.

Thanks for making it through the Vibe Check! Enjoy the BTC ⛏️ , Datacenters 🤖, and Energy ⚡️ specific headlines below. Remember to subscribe, call your mom, and stay hydrated! Give me a shout to catch up this week and chat!