Overview
- A rare left–right convergence is taking shape, with Bernie Sanders urging a moratorium on new data centers and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis backing rules to require full-cost payment for power and water and to let communities block projects.
- Lawmakers in multiple states are moving to repeal tax breaks, ban nondisclosure deals, create a separate utility rate class for data centers, or halt construction, and Georgia voters ousted two utility regulators after bill hikes.
- Utilities warn that serving facilities with loads comparable to small cities can force new plants and lines whose costs spread to other customers, as the IEA projects sector electricity use could more than double from 2024 to 2030.
- Operators are expanding PPAs and utility-scale renewables and using wheeling, yet even large projects often cover only about 30%–50% of critical load, while closed‑loop cooling and big on‑site backups are deployed to curb water use and outages.
- Companies are exploring firmer power with gas turbines and nuclear, with reports of Google backing small reactors, Amazon signing nuclear deals and Microsoft planning to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island, while India’s Andhra Pradesh outlines a six‑gigawatt “data city” built around major investments and prospective nuclear capacity.