I’ve been sharing my concerns about the availability of electricity for homes and businesses as Illinois seeks the location of data centers.
From past experience, I know that large electric users can and do cut deals with ComEd.
Homeowners and ordinary businesses don’t.
So, are any of our legislators doing anything to make sure the coming data centers don’t cause electricty shortages for the others of us on the grid?
The Chicago Sun-Times offered the following headline on Friday:
From the aeticle:
30 data center projects planned over the next five years
if large companies like Microsoft, Meta or Oracle secure agreements for new data centers, it could eat up the region’s extra power capabilities.
a big selling point is the reliability of the Chicago area’s power
the growth of data centers also means a growing demand for power and infrastructure, costs that could impact a consumer’s utility bill.
Illinois has excess utility capacity — the ability to generate more electricity — that can be distributed to the grid, Smith, of Cushman & Wakefield, said. But if more land acquisitions and commitments for data centers are made in the next 12 to 14 months, that capacity will likely diminish, he said.
Sarah Moskowitz, executive director of the nonprofit Citizen’s Utility Board, said the growth of data centers is a piece of a larger issue, which is the growing demand for electricity and what that means for consumers.
“We need to take steps to ensure that electric customers aren’t left unfairly shouldering the costs of [data centers],” Moskowitz said.
ComEd expects data centers to continue their takeoff in Chicago. Data centers make for long partnerships
And, my questions remains: What impact will this have on the small users?
