Wisconsin lawmakers hold informational hearing on AI data centers

MADISON, Wis. (CIVIC MEDIA) – Wisconsin lawmakers are talking about data centers as projects are proposed, and some move forward, across the state. 

Microsoft is building a big data center in Mount Pleasant. Artificial intelligence company Vantage is putting one in Port Washington. QTS is proposing a data center in DeForest.

Janesville city leaders are considering two proposals for a data center at the old GM plant. 

The Assembly Committee on Science, Technology and AI held an informational hearing on data centers Nov. 5. 

Critics have said AI data centers harm the environment with carbon emissions and high water use and change their communities by straining the local infrastructure. In DeForest, residents have said they’re concerned about losing farmland. 

One of the biggest criticisms of these projects is just how much power they use. 

“Currently we only have information from two large data center projects on their potential energy use. Those two projects, the Microsoft data center in Mt. Pleasant, and the Vantage data center in Port Washington, will require a combined 3.9 gigawatts of electric power,” testified Chelsea Chandler, the Climate, Energy & Air Program Director for Clean Wisconsin. “According to our analysis, that is enough energy to power 4.3 million Wisconsin homes.” 

To accommodate these huge data centers, utility companies usually have to install new equipment to generate enough power. That can include building entire power plants to create enough electricity.

Bloomberg published a story in September reporting wholesale power costs 267 percent more than it did five years ago, and those costs are being passed on to customers. 

Vantage is building the AI data center in Port Washington. Kaitlyn Monaghan is the company’s director of public policy. 

“WE Energies has designed a really innovative tariff structure that ensures that the new large loads will pay the full cost to serve them through the VLC, the very large customer tariff, and Vantage is very supportive of that,” Monaghan said at the committee hearing. 

Data center projects are moving forward fast in Wisconsin. Cory Singletary, the Director of Regulatory Affairs for the Citizens Utility Board, said companies are trying to build these projects as fast as possible before laws catch up. 

“Speed to market is a primary, if not the primary, consideration of data center developers,” Singletary said at the hearing. “It may be natural then for this committee, the Wisconsin legislature, and perhaps the Commission to consider whether and how to bridge this speed gap.” 

Some Wisconsin legislators are already working to help the laws catch up. State Sen. Jodi Habush-Sinykin (D-Whitefish Bay) authored a bill she said creates “guardrails” for data centers. Her bill would require prevailing wages for workers, and require that data centers use 70% renewable energy. Her bill also aims to increase transparency on water and energy use.