Data centers — their size and tremendous need of energy — are top of mind for many people. That includes in Beaver Dam, 70 miles northwest of Milwaukee, where Meta is building a 700,000 square foot data center campus.
Alliant Energy requested Public Service Commission approval to provide energy - equivalent of two large-scale utility plants - to meet Meta’s projected energy needs.
On Thursday, the PSC commissioners spent hours deliberating the proposal.
Commissioner Kristy Nieto says it’s important to get this right, “The utility is requesting that we approve the contract without modification. There are certain aspects of this very large and novel contract however that I do not believe do enough to protect existing customers from subsidizing costs or taking on risks. I’m not able to support approving it as is,” she said.
After four hours of discussion, the commission approved a modified contract with an additional caveat - it ordered Alliant to come up with a uniform formula for all future data center projects that need over 100 megawatts of electricity to operate.
Two weeks ago, the PSC unanimously voted to create a rate plan for data-center scale customers in We Energies’ service area. It’s a way of ensuring the data center – not the customers around it – pay for the energy it consumes.
The Wisconsin Citizen Utility Board applauded the We Energies decision and calls the PSC vote Thursday a win for Alliant energy customers. The consumer advocacy organization says “The PSC ordered Alliant to file a much more transparent plan for all future data center projects.”
Tony Wilkin Gibart with Midwest Environmental Advocates also was pleased. His is one of the groups that has raised concerns when nondisclosure agreements block the ability to evaluate the environmental and health impacts of massive data center proposals.
“So, I think what we heard from the commissioners today was a really important step forward and it’s an indication that business as usual is not going to fly any longer. When these utilities and tech companies are asking so much of the public,” Wilkin Gibart says.
Alliant Energy spokesperson Melissa McCarville says the PSC “approved the contract, with conditions. The contract is structured to ensure large load customers pay the full cost of the infrastructure and energy required to serve them, not existing customers.”
During Thursday’s deliberations, PSC commissioner Kristy Nieto said twelve more data centers are “potentially in the works” in Alliant’s service area. It covers south central, south west and parts of eastern Wisconsin.
According to the most recent national Marquette Law School poll released late last month, 69% of adults “say the costs of data centers outweigh their benefits. That compares to 62% just three months earlier.
_
