Data centers are taking over the world, and chances are pretty high that someone is, right now, planning to build one in (or near) your backyard. That’s because the AI Boom is going on, and to produce AI, you need clouds, and to make clouds, you need rows upon rows of servers. There seems to be one place in the US where you can’t be safe from these friendly little places, and that place is Minnesota.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reports that, despite the fact that companies are moving bit by bit to build new data centers in the state, a few such projects have recently risen. For example, Oppidan, a Real Estate Firm involved in data center development, recently suspended two of its data center projects in the state. Why? The newspaper notes that companies may be concerned that “Minnesota’s regulatory climate will slow” the business “ready for explosive growth.”
What’s so bad about “Minnesota’s climate control”? Maybe the fact that it involves … you know, regulations. Indeed, the Minnesota legislature recently passed a flurry of laws aimed at introducing guardrails for the data center industry, including new customer use “and terms” that are meant to protect customers from paying for data center costs, “said the Star Tribune.
Data center construction has seen a boom across the country. As companies race to resist these new islands of “No Infrastructure,” they are also fueling political debate and conflict. One of the most common complaints is that they point out that they may be increasing everyone’s electricity bills. While the impact of data centers on regional energy consumption can be difficult to track, NBC recently reported that “in at least three states with high concentrations of data centers, electricity bills rose much faster than the national average.” Data centers have been accused of draining the small, resource-constrained communities where they are located.
Despite these concerns, in many areas, data centers seem to focus on the necessary control procedures for ease of use. Not so in Minnesota, where the Star Tribune notes that large technology firms have been trying (and failing) to manipulate the state legislature into revitalizing laws surrounding their various projects. In addition to everything about OPPIDAN, the newspaper notes a recent back-and-forth with Amazon that ended up not going the Tech Giant’s way:
At the end of the year, Amazon told the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) that its fleet of diesel generators should not require the company to allow the company to prove that the infrastructure is necessary and that there is no cheaper, cleaner alternative. After puc Amazon ruledThe company and others in the industry failed to convince legislators to get the relaxation rules for backup manufacturers because they would run normally and emit less carbon pollution. Diesel is not the only form of emergency power, but it is the most common in the industry.
Tech companies like to find that such projects “bring jobs” to the small (typically) small communities they touch. However, recent reporting from NPR suggests that, while such projects can create a glut of temporary construction positions while the facility is being built, once completed, the facilities tend to bring “few positions”. “The thing you have to remember about data centers is that they don’t employ a lot of people,” Stephen Bisaha said in a recent NPR segment. Bisaha added that most data centers only employ 100-200 people, and that, in some communities, “Keeping up with the demand for energy is not worth the few jobs that come with it.”
Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported on the so-called “job creation” that is the data center sector. This newspaper spoke to John Johnson, Portmos Chief Operating Officer who works with data, who admitted that his business was not the best to create the highest number of jobs per foot around them, “says Johnson.
