There are two that I see:
- Depletion of well water supply and
- Increases in the cost of electricity
Without a non-subterranean source of cooling water, I would be opposed to a local data center.
Looking back on the gas electric generating plant proposed in Oakwood Hills, I remember the proposal to pipe in waste water from Crystal Lake’s sewage treatment plant north of Route 176. P:erhaps a similar strategy could be used by a date center.
With regard to protecting ordinary electric users, Capitol News Illinois reports on encouraging news:
‘Grid operator PJM wants states and utilities to hold data centers responsible for buying their own power — or risk being cut off from grid service:
“PJM forecasts that data centers and other ‘large loads‘ will add 30 gigawatts to 34 gigawatts of new demand by the early 2030s and as much as 70 GW by 2038. Building enough new energy resources to meet that demand would push enormous costs onto utility customers.
“State lawmakers and environmental and consumer advocates have been demanding that PJM instead require that new data centers get cut off from the grid when electricity demand is especially high, unless those facilities can pay for and build the resources required to keep them online.”
A sub-headline in the article summarizes the proposal, which needs Federal approval
Data centers: Bring your own power or face cutoff
I think even Democrats in Illinois can figure out what needs to be done.
Governor JB Pritzker seems to have gotten the message.
But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could end up being a problem given President Donald Trumps’ promotion of daa centers.
