Crain’s Chicago Business has an article reporting some members of the Illinois General Assembly are finally talking about data centers sucking up of electricity may threaten ordinary users’ supply.
I don’t subscribe to Crain’s so can’t tell you more than the email headline.
If you do, please copy and paste the article in an email and send it to me.
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A Friend of McHenry County Blog found the article, written by Northwestern University Medill student Leonardo Pini here on WREX-TV in Rockford.
The headline is a bit different.
Some relevant content follows:
“Powering these data centers is costly, consuming large amounts of water and energy. The growth of this business has prompted concerns about the impact on the environment and the electricity grid, including rising costs for rate-paying consumers.”
The article plays off a really mild bill (Senate Bill 2181) introduced by State Sen. Steve Stadelman, D-Rockford, leader of the Senate Committee on Energy and Public Utilities.
All it requires is a study of parts of the problem, has no co-sponsors and is going nowhere this year. The fine for non-compliance is a mere $10,000, peanuts to any company running a data center.
Further down in the story, this appears:
“An October study published by the Center for Secure Water at the University of Illinois found that hyperscalers can use up to 550,000 gallons of water per day, while smaller data centers can consume up to 18,000 gallons per day.
‘However, Lewis argued that many critiques on water consumption are ‘overblown,’ claiming the data center industry is “self-regulating” and trying to find solutions, ‘such as a closed-loop water system that does not require millions of gallons of water.’”
Self-regulation of an industry that could disrupt two necessities of life–electricity and water.
Yeah. That’ll really work, right?
The potential impact locally?
“…a comprehensive study to estimate data centers’ impact on the electricity grid is difficult to find.”
Citizens Utility Board Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz weighed in with this:
“‘Another concern is their impact on energy customers, who could see the cost of their rates spike in upcoming years.”.. She worries that Illinois’ energy capacity may be monopolized by data centers in the near future…
“Moskowitz warned that the growth of data centers could cause higher prices for energy for consumers and cautioned that ‘the entities that control the information about data centers are the entities that benefit the most from inflating demand projections.
“’Suppose those data companies can outbid everyday ratepayers for electricity generation,’ she said. ‘In that case, that is removed from the overall markets and exacerbates real or perceived energy supply shortages that drive up market prices.'”
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With all of McHenry County getting its water from aquifers, shallow and deep, I would not favor of locating any data centers locally.
The closest one is owned by CyrusOne
