WHY IT MATTERS
Data centers have certainly made headlines of late. Some positive, some negative. At a recent district meeting, I was asked what our cooperative’s stance is on data centers, so I thought it appropriate to share our position with our membership in this newsletter column.
OUR POSITION
No matter what the future holds, our priority will be supporting growth with fairness – that means ensuring large-scale energy users pay their fair share and don’t negatively impact rates or reliability for our membership
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Data centers may feel like a big-city phenomenon, but more and more of them are showing up in rural communities. Rural areas offer what data centers need most: affordable land, room to grow, lower average temperatures and access to transmission lines that can move large amounts of power. What makes data centers different from other large businesses is their appetite for electricity. These facilities run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Servers must stay online constantly, which means power has to be reliable every minute of every day.
OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES
Data centers have the potential to bring steady, long- term load growth that helps support investments in the local and regional grid. With proper agreements, planning and policy support, those upgrades – including new generation, transmission, substations and distribution – can benefit all. Providing power to data centers presents challenges, too. These large facilities can be constructed and operating in as little as one year, but ensuring the necessary infrastructure, equipment and electricity requires longer lead times, planning and significant financial investment. These loads, when agreements are structured properly, help mitigate costs to the rest of the membership (see associated graphic on page 3 of September Northern Lights). What’s even better is that many data center owners/operators have the balance sheet and the desire to pay for all costs up front, further reducing the risk to existing members.
THE HISTORY & FUTURE
Data centers are certainly not new. They’ve been around for decades. What is new is the sheer size and scale of many modern varieties. While Beltrami Electric Cooperative does not currently serve any large data centers, co-ops nationwide are fielding requests and inquiries from tech companies. One project currently under construction is located in Harwood, North Dakota (see associated article on power supply on page 3 of the September Northern Lights). This data center facility will be served by Cass County Electric Cooperative headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, who in turn is supplied by Minnkota Power Cooperative, our wholesale power supplier. Cass County Electric Cooperative and Minnkota have structured the deal to mitigate the risk associated with serving the load so that it benefits all Minnkota member cooperatives through upgrades in generation, transmission, distribution and increased margins.
OUR COMMITMENT
As a member-owned cooperative, our responsibility is to provide safe, reliable and affordable electric service to all members. Balancing those responsibilities is not always simple, especially as new types of large scale energy users, like data centers, become part of the landscape. The energy landscape is changing, and with it comes both opportunities and challenges. Our commitment is to continue listening, communicating and working with our members and community partners to ensure decisions reflect the best interests of the people we serve.