Exelon arrives in Burlington as data centers reshape the Northeast grid

Exelon flew from Rock County, Wisconsin to Burlington, Vermont early on June 11th, a two-hour-and-twenty-eight-minute hop in its Dassault Falcon 7X, N496AC. The Chicago-based holding company touched down at Patrick Leahy Burlington International just before half past midnight local time.

The same week Exelon’s plane landed in Burlington, the company is pushing forward with a $1.5 billion increase in transmission investment, partly to support data center interconnections that have signed Transmission Security Agreements with subsidiaries like Delmarva Power & Light, according to an Industrial Info Resources report citing Exelon’s CFO. Calvin Butler, Exelon’s CEO, told analysts on May 6th that “business as usual is not an option” as affordability concerns grow across the Mid-Atlantic, per TD World. The trip to Vermont aligns with a broader pattern: Exelon is shifting capital away from distribution toward transmission projects that can interconnect large loads, and the Northeast corridor — including Vermont — is a key region for data center buildout, per Semafor.

The flight is part of a busier-than-usual week for Exelon’s Falcon. In the preceding days, the aircraft crossed the Atlantic from Germany and made stops in Colorado, Utah, and Nebraska. Burlington, while not a regular destination in Exelon’s flight log, fits the company’s need to visit state regulators and utilities — Vermont’s grid is part of the larger ISO-New England system where transmission constraints are a growing concern.