Data Center Development
The emergence of artificial intelligence has accelerated demand for data centers. To meet this demand, tech companies are rushing to build “hyperscale” data centers in Wisconsin and across the nation. These facilities use enormous amounts of energy and water, with major implications for ratepayers, communities, and the environment.
Understanding the Concerns
Tech companies and data center developers are skilled at limiting how much information about a planned data center reaches the public.
Use of Nondisclosure Agreements (NDAs)
Data center developers routinely use non-disclosure agreements to keep key details hidden from the public during early planning and approval stages. These NDAs often prevent local officials from sharing basic information about a project’s size, water use, energy demands, tax incentives, or corporate backers.
Use of Anonymous LLCs
Data center developers increasingly rely on anonymous or shell LLCs to quietly secure access to land, water and utility infrastructure long before communities understand what’s being proposed. These opaque corporate structures make it difficult for residents to identify who is behind a project, what their track record is, or how much public subsidy and infrastructure support is being sought on their behalf. For communities, this lack of transparency undermines meaningful public participation and accountability.
Claims of “Trade Secrecy”
Data center developers sometimes invoke claims of “trade secrecy” to withhold information that communities need to evaluate the true impacts of proposed projects. Under this rationale, details about water consumption, energy use, cooling technology, emissions, and more are shielded from public review. These claims stretch the meaning of trade secrets beyond protecting legitimate proprietary information and instead function as a barrier to accountability.
Hyperscale data centers require massive amounts of electricity.
The first phase of the Port Washington Data Center alone will use more electricity than half a million homes.
According to a new report by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, the Port Washington data center is one of three data center projects responsible for a projected 40 percent increase in statewide energy demand over the next six years. The majority of that demand will be served by new natural gas plants or upgrades to existing gas plants.
To meet this growing demand for electricity, the PSC has already approved a series of proposals for new gas-fired power generation. At the same time, the retirement of several coal-fired power plants has been delayed. These developments have grave implications for Wisconsin’s ability to decarbonize the electrical grid and mitigate climate change.
Hyperscale data centers in Wisconsin have turned to diesel generators as a source of backup power. Diesel exhaust is a type 1 carcinogen linked to cancer, heart, and lung disease. Large, industrial size generators also emit harmful air pollutants that increase the severity of smog, particularly on hot, sunny days. Batteries could provide backup power at data centers without these impacts.
The computer servers that fill a hyperscale data center generate heat and require powerful cooling systems. Traditionally, many large data centers used evaporative cooling, which cools air by the same process that sweat cools a body on a hot day. This type of cooling uses enormous amounts of water as it is evaporated into the ambient air.
In recent years, some data centers—especially hyperscale facilities—have begun switching to “closed-loop” systems or air-cooled systems. While these systems may appear to use less water, its off-site water footprint is huge. That’s because the coal and gas plants that power data centers consume vast amounts of water. In a typical year, over 70% of Wisconsin’s water consumption goes to electric generating facilities, mainly coal and gas plants.
latest news
Data Center Updates
Legal victory! Judge orders release of information about energy use at Meta’s Beaver Dam data center
This week, a Dane County Circuit Court sided with MEA in a dispute over the public’s right to know how the unprecedented energy needs of hyperscale data centers will impact Wisconsin. The court ruled that the Public Service Commission acted unlawfully when it denied a public records request seeking information about energy use at Meta’s Beaver Dam data center and ordered that the information be released.
DNR reversed course on a massive data center after pushback from developers. MEA is fighting for answers.
A new lawsuit filed by MEA on behalf of the Sierra Club shows the extent to which tech companies and data center developers may be influencing decisions that impact Wisconsin’s environment.
Port Washington Data Center Developers Seek to Shift Financial Risks to Residents
When the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin approved new protections for Wisconsin ratepayers in April, it sent a clear message that ordinary Wisconsinites should not be responsible for the financial risks created by data center deals negotiated behind closed doors by utility companies and the world’s biggest tech companies. Now, some of those companies are asking regulators to backtrack.
Energy Regulators Take Steps to Ensure Data Centers Pay Their Own Way
On April 24, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin approved We Energies’ proposed rate structure for data centers, but only after making important changes to protect existing ratepayers.
MEA Calls for Full Environmental Review of Port Washington Data Center
At Wisconsin DNR hearing today, residents, advocates, and public health experts raised serious concerns about the air pollution impacts of a new data center campus in Port Washington. MEA is actively engaged in that process to ensure the DNR fully evaluates the environmental impacts before issuing air quality permits for the massive facility.
MEA Recognized for Open Government Work
The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council will honor MEA and other awardees at a free public event in Madison on March 19. MEA is being recognized for promoting transparency and access to public records related to data center development in Wisconsin.