There have been meetings of Data Center developers and BOS members going on for years.
Once an application is put in, we will have roughly 30 days! That is not a lot of time to get things together and organized. It will be a fast paced process that we all need to be ready for! Preparing ourselves ahead of that places us in a stronger position to fight.
How Much Water Can A Data Center Use?
The consumption amount can vary depending upon the size of the data center.A typical data center uses 300,000 gallons of water each day(equivalent to the demands of about 1,000 households), but large data centers can use an estimated 5 million gallons of water each day, equivalent to the needs of a town of up to 50,000 residents. Moreover, projections show water used for cooling may increase by 870% in the coming years as more facilities come online.
Where Does The Water For The Data Center Come From?
Data centers usually try to obtain water from municipal water supplies (potabel water), with significant usage also stemming indirectly from power plants supplying their electricity. If they are unable to obtain the water from a municipal source then they would look to obtain water from local wells or in some cases surface water from nearby lakes, rivers, or canals.
How Much Power Do Data Centers Use?
Small data centers, typically spanning 5,000-20,000 square feet with 500-2,000 servers, consume 1-5 MW of power. These facilities often serve single organizations or provide colocation services for smaller businesses.
Medium-sized facilities may consume 5-20 MW, serving regional needs or specialized applications. These centers often achieve better efficiency than smaller facilities due to economies of scale in cooling and power distribution systems.
The larger hyperscale facilities can consume over 650 MW—equivalent to a medium-sized power plant’s entire output.
Source: https://solartechonline.com/blog/how-much-electricity-data-center-use-guide/
But Data Center's Keep Our Taxes Lower!
Even in places like Loudoun County, Virginia and Fairfax County, Virginia where data centers are heavily concentrated, counties can still face budget shortfalls or tax increases. While data centers represent massive capital investments, much of their value is in computer equipment that is often taxed at reduced rates due to Virginia’s data center tax incentive program, and that equipment depreciates quickly as technology is replaced. Data centers are also highly automated and employ relatively few permanent workers compared to other types of commercial development, which limits the broader economic activity and local tax revenue they generate. At the same time, counties continue to experience population growth and rising costs for schools, public safety, infrastructure, and government services. In Virginia, an increase in a locality’s overall tax base can also reduce the amount of state funding it receives for programs like public education, shifting more of those costs to the local government. As a result, even with significant data center investment, the revenue they generate does not always keep pace with the increasing costs counties must cover.
Electric Companies With Service in Warren County, Virginia