MADISON, Wis. (Gray) – Wisconsin lawmakers are continuing conversations on how to offset data centers’ energy costs after failing to pass legislation last session to regulate the booming industry.
Democratic state Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde highlighted a new study from Green Homeowners United during a press conference on Wednesday. The study says upgrading the energy efficiency of nearly 40,000 Wisconsin homes would offset the demand of a 200 megawatt data center, about the size of Meta’s Beaver Dam data center.
“Wisconsin homeowners and residents should not be fronting the bill for big tech,” Omokunde said.
The renovations would include adding insulation to homes’ basement walls and attics, replacing electric water heaters with new tech and sealing air leaks. Green Homeowners United says it’s a quick solution that data centers could pay for.
“It would take years to create a new power plant. We can insulate someone’s house next week,” said Kevin Kane, chief economist for Green Homeowners United.
Republican state Rep. David Steffen, chair of the Committee on Energy and Utilities, said while conservation is admirable, these kinds of projects won’t keep up with energy demands.
“There isn’t enough savings there, sadly, in the energy system to make the difference to address the seismic increase, the exponential increase we are going to be seeing from data centers,” Steffen said.
Steffen is the chair of the Assembly Committee on Energy and Utilities.
“We need to have clean water, air, land. But in order to handle the data center load, as well as just general economic development growth, we’re going to need base load, large-scale energy increases,” said Steffen.
Both Steffen and Omokunde agree legislation aimed at getting regulations for data centers set into place can be expected next session.
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