By JAMIE FALGIE
NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA — As companies and members of Congress push for Pennsylvania to become the heart of data center development in the United States, many eyes have turned toward Northeast PA.
While there are already numerous data centers located throughout Pennsylvania, the newest generation of centers—often referred to as hyperscale data centers—are of particular concern, due to their large quantity of energy and water consumption along with their massive scale, as they can occupy hundreds of acres. These are the data centers used to train and run generative artificial intelligence (AI) software.
Around $90 billion worth of investment in data centers and natural gas development was announced in July for Pennsylvania; see riverreporter.com/stories/billions-coming-to-pa-for-natural-gas-data-center-development,208178? for more information.
On Monday, August 11, a public hearing was held on data center development in the commonwealth. It touched on a few key issues regarding the centers, one of the issues being water and energy resources. The hearing was called by PA State Sen. Rosemary Brown, who represents District 40 (including parts of Lackawanna, Monroe and Wayne counties). The hearing was chaired by state Sen. David Argall.
John L. Augustine III, president/CEO of Penn’s Northeast (the regional economic development agency for NEPA), was present to talk about the economic development these data centers might bring. He described these centers as our “fourth industrial revolution,” after coal and iron, industrial parks and advanced manufacturing, and warehouse and distribution centers.
“We have the power, and thanks to the Marcellus Shale, we have a tremendous amount of clean burning natural gas,” Augustine said. “We are also fortunate to have a nuclear power plant, and PA is only one of a few states which also enjoy other types of energy production like water, wind and solar.”
Augustine also addressed some concerns about environmental impacts of these centers, stating that some companies are moving away from consuming large amounts of water and using immersion or liquid cooling in a closed loop. He also mentioned that other companies are trying to create more eco-friendly generators.
However, many residents of NEPA have voiced their concerns about the potential impact of water usage these centers could have, with much of the water potentially being taken from the Delaware River Basin. This basin supplies drinking water to over 14.2 million people, which includes more than 5.7 million Pennsylvania residents.
“The anticipated growth in data centers is of interest to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) because water is essential to their operations, specifically for cooling,” stated Kristen Bowman Kavanagh, P.E., executive director of the DRBC. The DRBC is the governing body responsible for protecting the health of the Delaware River. “Water-based cooling systems are attractive because of their relative efficiency and cost effectiveness, but even air-based cooling systems require water because they require energy from electric generators that in turn require water for cooling.”
Kavanagh also mentioned that the quality of the water after it is used may also be an area of concern, since this water could be discharged into the river basin with increased temperatures or increased levels of chlorides, salinity or other contaminants.
Currently the DRBC is attempting to inventory and define the current footprint of the data centers within the basin, but this has proven to be a difficult task, considering that details of the center’s water are not readily disclosed, she said. “Indeed, transparency is key.”
Kavanagh finished her testimony by stating that the DRBC is ready to collaborate with co-regulators, utilities and data center operators to guarantee dependable access to clean water, while also ensuring the long-term health of surrounding watersheds.
The executive director of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), Andrew D. Dehoff, P.E., also weighed in on water concerns, emphasizing the millions of gallons of water these modern data centers consume. However, Dehoff also said there are alternatives which allow centers to greatly reduce their facilities’ water demands, such as dry and hybrid cooling.
“We’re also hearing a lot of big companies pledging to go greener with new, less water-intensive cooling methods,” he continued. “It is incumbent upon elected officials in Pennsylvania to ensure they follow through on their promises.”
Along with water usage, another area of concern is the sheer amount of energy needed to run these data centers.
There to speak on the energy aspect of resources was Christine M. Martin, president of PPL Electric Utilities. Currently, PPL supplies energy to nearly 1.5 million Pennsylvanians in 29 counties spread throughout the central and eastern parts of the commonwealth.
Even though PPL has invested nearly $13 million in the energy grid since 2013 (and plans to invest an additional $7 million by 2028), it is predicted that summer peak energy demand will double within the next six years, largely due to the rise in data centers.
“In practical terms, we are doubling the energy demand that took more than 100 years to reach.” according to testimony. Even with what has already been done, additional investments, transmission lines and possible construction will be needed to meet the increased energy demands from data centers.
“All infrastructure has some level of impact,” Martin said, “and we would seek to minimize that [impact] as we’ve tried to do in the past.”
Throughout the hearing, one key environmental aspect not mentioned was the impact of additional fracking throughout the region. While fracking is currently banned in Wayne and Pike counties, the push for data center development has put extra pressure behind efforts to overturn that ban.
See riverreporter.com/stories/deregulatory-push-could-jeopardize-regional-fracking-regulations,188185? for more information.