The structural signal in the Anthropic-TeraWulf lease is a pass-through tariff filed with the Kentucky Public Service Commission, transferring all MISO energy and capacity market risk to TeraWulf and Anthropic, while Big Rivers Electric and Kenergy bear none. The deal monetizes grid access from a retired aluminum smelter site, which inherited utility-scale industrial load capacity, bypassing years of greenfield interconnection queue clearance. This structure yields approximately $2.37 million per critical IT megawatt-year, a premium for the retained energy volatility risk by the tenant and landlord.
Data center developers are now underwriting retired industrial sites at a premium, as grid interconnection queue position is the binding constraint, not physical construction.