Indiana utility regulators have unanimously approved a plan for AES Indiana to build $737.3 million worth of solar, battery storage and transmission infrastructure to power a new Google data center in Monrovia, southwest of Indianapolis.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s October 7 decision marks the first data center project reviewed under a 2025 state law requiring large electricity users to cover most of the costs they add to the grid.
What the commission approved
Indiana utility regulators unanimously approved a plan for utility AES Indiana to build the solar, battery storage and electric line project needed to power a 390-megawatt Google data center project in Monrovia.
The Monrovia project, southwest of Indianapolis in Morgan County, will include two battery energy storage systems and a solar facility. The total project cost is $737.3 million.
AES estimates the infrastructure investment at $1.3 billion , according to the commission’s order.
Who pays for the power buildout
At the Oct. 7 meeting, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission said the proposed project meets a 2025 state law that requires data centers and other large electricity users to cover 80% of costs reasonably assigned to it. The law also requires the plan to protect existing and future customers.
The Monrovia project is the first data center filed under the new law.
The companies and regulators say Google will pay all of the costs for the $737 million project, not existing AES Indiana customers.
Commissioner Joby Jerrells said AES Indiana had testified that Google would pay for at least 100% of the costs under the requirement, adding, “Not only does this agreement satisfy the statutory requirement, it exceeds it substantially.”
Not everyone is convinced ratepayers are fully shielded. A consumer advocacy group has raised concerns that ratepayers could end up covering roughly $73.8 million of network upgrades that AES Indiana identified as necessary because the Google data center is being added to the grid.
The order says it is reasonable for existing customers to be assigned a share of the cost upgrades, though AES Indiana says Google’s payments to the utility system will make up for customers’ costs.
Part of a broader national pattern
The Monrovia approval lands as utilities across the country negotiate how to bill hyperscale cloud operators for the power-hungry infrastructure their AI facilities require.
Texas has become the state with the most data center capacity under construction nationally, a shift GCN has previously reported is straining grid capacity even in established hubs like Virginia.
Meanwhile, cloud providers have been racing to add compute capacity at a pace that outstrips traditional utility planning cycles, a dynamic also visible in Microsoft’s move to triple Azure capacity by the early 2030s.
Indiana’s new cost-allocation law reflects a broader effort by state regulators to prevent residential ratepayers from absorbing the expense of utility upgrades built primarily to serve single large corporate customers, a concern that has surfaced in similar disputes in other states as data center construction accelerates nationwide.
Why it matters for cloud expansion
The case offers an early test of how state-level cost-allocation rules could shape where and how quickly cloud providers can expand physical infrastructure.
Google did not immediately comment publicly on the commission’s ruling beyond the filings cited by regulators, and the Monrovia facility’s construction timeline has not been disclosed in the public record reviewed by the commission.
For AES Indiana, the ruling clears the way to begin the $737.3 million buildout of transmission lines, battery storage and solar generation specifically tied to the Monrovia site.
The commission says the terms are structured to keep the financial burden on Google rather than the utility’s broader customer base.
