PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The Phoenix area is a hub for a new kind of high-tech business. They are called data centers and they are storage facilities for online information, photos, videos, spreadsheets, files and just about everything modern human don’t store in their own phones or computers.
“All of that data that we’re using has to be stored somewhere,” said Kevin Thompson, who is the chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission.
He says the speed at which data centers began popping up across the Valley and the state is alarming. “I think it took everyone by surprise,” said Thompson.
Roughly 140 are operating today, with dozens more waiting in the wings.
And these are not ordinary “9 to 5″ businesses. They are large. Some are taking up as much acreage as entire neighborhoods. And they consume large amounts of electricity and water 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
“We do not have the energy and transmission infrastructure to support the amount of energy that’s being requested of us,” said Patrick Bogle, who is the data center strategy director at APS.
Bogle says the power company is having to turn away potential data center customers because they require so much electricity.
Right now, data centers use about 350 megawatts of electricity from APS. Last summer, the company saw its highest demand ever, at 8,200 megawatts. Bogle says if every data center that wanted to set up shop in APS’ service area was able to, the electricity demand would be 19,000 megawatts.
“So the ultimate goal for APS is reliability and affordability for our existing customers,” said Bogle. “We’ve been able to tell data center customers, ‘We can serve you, but just not now.’”
Bogle says APS is working to increase its capacity, but that may take some time.
In early July, the Phoenix City Council voted to begin regulating where data centers can be able to set up. Councilmembers listed as community members, firefighters and others spoke out about the potential for harm to neighborhoods, the environment and to first responders if there is a fire or other problem.
But it’s a different issue that Thompson is concerned about. “I’m strictly looking at the power side of things, the energy they use. How can we ensure that the data centers are paying their fair share, paying their own way?” said Thompson, who opened an investigation to answer those questions.
He says his job is to make sure the electric companies are not charging residential consumers for the upgrades they need to make to provide electricity to data centers.
APS has vowed to abide by that guidance. “We don’t want that situation where grandma down the street on a fixed income is having to pay for high-tech company X over here to be building a data center on their dime,” said Bogle.
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