Dispatches from Washington DC at the National Association of Counties conference

I am attending the National Association of Counties (NACO) Conference as part of the Dane County Board delegation with Keith Furman and Colin Barushok. One of my main focuses here is how we are going to grapple as local municipalities with hyperscale data center issues. Michael Turner from Loudon County Virginia gave an eye opening presentation called "Lessons from Data Center Alley".

In Data Center Alley, you have large grey concrete building that can be over a hundred feet high and take up city blocks. The power demands alone are scales higher than typical business and consumer demand. As we enter this 5th industrial revolution, regulation is scarce and the federal administration is pushing for rapidly moving forward without properly thinking through consequences.

The presentation outlined how Loudon County was uniquely situated due to low latency rates and high fiber optic availability. 75% all of email traffic in the world flow through this corridor. Some fascinating background facts are that although these data centers have high redundancy, the critical points of failure are the power sub stations. This highlights as a whole our grid vulnerabilities. There is also an explosion in demand for electricity. Power demands in Loudon County went from 1 gigawatt in 2019 to 4 gigawatts in 2024 and expected to be greater than 11 gigawatts by 2029.

In addition to massive power demands, there are also demands for water for cooling that in closed loop systems. As this water passes through these systems, it picks up heavy metals and toxic chemicals like PFAS. The water is then discharged as it no longer becomes usable.

This is all alarming and calls for Counties and Municipalities to educate ourselves on what tools are available to protect our communities and natural resources. No sector of our economy will be immune from these devices and technology that are integral to our lives but we can not move forward unless we do so intentionally and with proper guardrails and regulations.

Here are some local best practices in Loudon County with a citation in the comments. Please note, I am not recommending or endorsing any of these points but this is going to my launching off point for my research.

* Make sure your Comprehensive Plan lists performance standards and your Zoning Ordinance aligns with the plan; make sure both are current.

• Never allow "by right" data center development; require local jurisdiction approval.

• Require Tier IV backup generators.

• Max of 55 Db at the sending property line.

• Conduct a pre- and post-construction professional noise study

• Include both perceived noise and low frequency noise.

• Long Duration Energy Storage backup using graphene rather than lithium.

• 500’ minimum setback from residential; 1,000’ preferred.

• Consider waste heat recapture (district energy) to heat nearby buildings.

• Require accommodation in site design to enable future incorporation of microgram elements (baseload power source, backup power source, BESS, demand response system, etc.).

• Talk to utilities about a separate, underground HVDC grid for data centers

• Incorporate Green Building Initiative “Green Globe” ratings into buildings

• Ensure utilities state, in writing, where power will come from and where substations will be located

I am planning to work with the Dane County Advisory Committee on Data Centers and will try to gather national experts to help guide us as we work through this issues in our own backyard.