Data centers are large, climate controlled, facilities for managing, processing, and storing data. They are used for everything from AI to online shopping to off-site data backups to high performance computing. Data center equipment hosts cloud services, websites, and applications, and databases.
While they enable amazing things – we must ensure that that are good citizens of Georgia. Data centers are power and water hogs yet create only about 30 permanent jobs; the average McDonald’s creates 50. Their only value is tax revenue, yet they get tax incentives.
The near-term pipeline of datacenters in Georgia will draw:
Between 6500 and 8700 MW (Megawatts) of power => Plant Vogtle’s four cores produce 4664 MW of power.
~ 16 Billion (B) to 34 B Gallons of water per year => which is the annual water use of 345K – 690K people.
$0.24 for every $1 of tax abated => A 2022 State Audit showed a negative return on tax breaks
Transparency would ensure Georgian’s understand
- That the taxes paid are commensurate with the resources they use
- The infrastructure burden can be recouped
- The fast-approaching demands on our state
- Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Meta are meeting their stated climate friendly pledges
Map of Data Centers
The above map shows data centers and crypto mines.
The black icons represent completed data centers, and the orange data centers in progress. A number over the icon represents more than one data center; these will ‘separate out’ as you zoom in on the map using the “+” symbol in the bottom right.
The gray icons represent known Crypto Mines – which are not Data Centers – but still energy and water superconsumers.
When you press these icons, a pop up appears with basic information: the data center name, address, county, energy source, absolute location (latitude & latitude), and owner. There is also more detailed information: data center power usage, total power, total square feet, water source, and water usage in gallons. Much of the detailed information is only estimated due to lack of public information about exact values. For example, the power usage is based on the square feet of the given data center, and the water usage is based on power usage. Blanks in the pop ups indicate a lack of enough information to even estimate values. (The trouble with data center energy figures – DCD ).
If you would like to interact with the map – click here or press the expand icon on the map – you can also add and hide layers about
- Power Proviers
- County Lines
- Representative and Senate Districts
We don’t quite know for certain:
–USA Data Centers lists 96 in Georgia
–Georgia Data Centers – Providers Map in Georgia, United States – lists 71
Science for Georgia Interns have confirmed 97.
Approximately 30 permanent jobs at a Data Center – Why data centers fail to bring new jobs to small towns | TechRepublic
Power use can vary – but it can be estimated at about 150 Watts (W) to 300W of power per sq foot.
Thus, using the estimate of 200 W per sq foot – Project Sail at 4.9Million square feet would draw about 980 Megawatts (MW)
For comparison – Georgia Power estimates that 1MW of power can support 450 homes. Thus, Project Sail is about the equivalent of 441,000 homes.
Data center’s power consumption comes from
- Compute technology – millions of computer chips executing algorithms and computations on enormous quantities of data. All this data requires:
- Storage devices – hard disk drives that hold all the data. To get the data and answers back and forth to the data centers and within the data centers there must be:
- Network devices – that provide connectivity. All of these things combine to create a tremendous amount of heat which require complex
- Cooling systems – from AC units to water chillers.
Understanding Data Center Energy Consumption – C&C Technology Group
Science for Georgia has found 97 data centers that are in-use, and an additional 10 more that are in-progress and/or announced.
Total Power Capacity of 68 centers: 6515 MW
Total Power Capacity of 9 planned: 2215 MW
Total in-use and planned: 8730 MW
From those 97 in-use, we were able to find reported power capacity data for 68 centers, and total square footage for 64 centers (not all the same centers). We then used the square footage from the 64 centers to estimate power capacity – which was close to the reported power capacity – and low and high water usage.
For the 10 more in progress, we had announced capacity for 9 of them, and then square footage for 9 of them (note – we had square footage for one data center that we did not have power capacity for). We then used the square footage from the 9 centers to estimate power capacity, and low and high water usage.
Using the Georgia Power estimate of 1 MW for 450 homes.
6500 MW could then power 2.9 M homes.
8700 MW could then power 3.9 M homes.
Water estimates vary.
It is anywhere between 2 Gallons per Watt to 4.15 G per W.
Data centers are not required to track their water usage, and many still water an “inexpensive commodity.” In 2021, a survey of over 500 global data centers found that 49% did not track water use, with 63% stating there was “no business justification for collecting water usage data.”
Using the estimated 6500 MW of data centers and the 2 to 4.15 Gallons per Watt – we can estimate 13 Billion to 27 Billion Gallons of water per year.
For comparison, the average personal water withdrawal is 132 gallons per day.
In the US, where the average per capita water withdrawal is 48 billions gallons per year.
Thus, data centers in Georgia will be the equivalent of about 270K – 560K people. For comparison, Athens-Clarke is 129K people and the Savannah Metro area is 404K people
If we go with in-use and planned, 8730 MW – we get about 16 B – 34 B gallons / year.
There is minimal reporting required for data centers in Georgia.
“Fewer than half of data center owners and operators are tracking the metrics needed to assess their sustainability and, in some cases, to meet pending regulatory requirements.” – Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2024 | Uptime Intelligence
Yes!
There are solutions from more efficient cooling, water recirculation, and algorithmic efficiency.
- Total Power Capacity, Announced
- This information is usually provided publicly by data centers. See the pop-ups on the map to learn more.
- Power Capacity, Estimated
- Power Capacity can also be estimated from square footage of a center. It ranges from 150W to 300 W per square foot. Here we estimated power capacity by using: Total Square footage x 150 W / Sq foot
- Water Estimate, Low
- Water use estimates vary, but one source suggested that for every 100 MW of capacity, a center uses about 200 M Gallons of water per year.
Using this ratio, the low estimate of water (in million gallons per year) can be found by multiplying total capacity by
- Water use estimates vary, but one source suggested that for every 100 MW of capacity, a center uses about 200 M Gallons of water per year.
- Water Estimate, High
SB 34 ensures that data centers, and only data centers, pay the billions of dollars of costs they cause.
Georgia Power customers have seen their bills go up, on average $43 a month, since Jan 2023.Mainly due to data center demand, GP has requested billions of dollars of additional energy grid upgrades. These have not yet been passed onto customers.
The Georgia Public Service (PSC) commission has passed new rules that say Georgia Power may pass these costs onto Data Centers. Former PSC member, Bobby Baker, said the new rules the PSC approved are full of loopholes that give Georgia Power so much flexibility over compliance that they offer no guaranteed protections for residential ratepayers. “[PSC] rules changes are essentially worthless… The cost causers need to pay for the costs they cause.”