WYTHE COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) – On December 5, the Wythe County Board of Supervisors announced that Progress Park would be home to a data center in the future.
The announcement sparked conversations about whether a data center is right for the county.
“There are serious concerns over the prospect of adding an artificial intelligence data center to our county,” one resident said.
“I’m worried about the amount of land that’s being taken in this county for various things. I’m worried about our natural resources,” said another resident. “Take care of the citizens. It’s not about the dollar sign.”
The county has since posted data about what it would take to operate the center.
Data centers are known to consume massive amounts of water.
According to the Virginia Conservation Network, data centers in Loudon County, Virginia, used 899 million gallons of water in 2023.
In comparison, the county claims the Solis Arx 99-acre center would use less than 2,000 gallons of water per day, which adds up to 730,000 gallons per year.
The data provided by Wythe County shows this is possible because the center will use a closed-loop chilled water system that minimizes the demand for water.
The county also says residential and business bills will be unaffected by this project and its demand.
But according to a study from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, data centers’ increased energy demand will likely increase system costs for all customers, including non-data center customers.
That commission says this is because it will be difficult to supply enough energy to keep pace with growing data center demand, so energy prices are likely to increase for all customers.
Solis Arx will pay for the costs to expand power infrastructure for the project.
But only time will tell if customers will get hit with an increase in their electric bill.
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