Data Centers: Transparency Makes Good Neighbors

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, applications, and databases.

While they enable amazing things – we must ensure that that are good citizens of Georgia. Currently we are not asking them to be good neighbors, and thus, they are taking advantage of us.

After construction, they create only about 30 permanent jobs; the average McDonald’s creates 50. They only return $0.24 for every $1 of tax abated => A 2022 State Audit showed a negative return on tax breaks
Cloudy with a Loss of Spending Control: How Data Centers Are Endangering State Budgets – Good Jobs First

Water hungry: often require more than the total quota for a city or municipality. In-use and planned facilities would draw over 27 billion gallons of water a year. That’s the water needs of 560,000 people! Savannah metro as 400K people, Augusta 630K.

Power hungry: often require new transmission lines and substations – lowering surrounding property value. In-use and planned centers will draw 14,000 MW. That’s enough to power about 6.3 million homes. Georgia has about 4.6 million housing units.

Click Here for a Data Center Organizing Toolkit

Steps to being good neighbors

They are taking more than they are giving because we aren’t asking for them to be good neighbors. But they want our land, our power, and our water. Let’s ask for something in return.

STEP 1: Get the Facts

Learn more about data centers and tell your friends.

Fast Facts Handout

STEP 2: Require Transparency around resource use, job creation, and taxes paid

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

HB 528 - Data Center Transparency

STEP 3: Write strong local ordinances

Proper zoning will ensure that data centers are good neighbors by

Paying for water and energy infrastructure that only they need
Abating noise and tempering light pollution
Signing long-term leases
Supporting community needs

Ordinance Handout

Bonus Step: Get a Community Benefit Agreement

Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) are legally binding agreements between an incoming project (such as a data center) and the surrounding community. CBAs can work hand-in-hand with local ordinances to ensure that specific data center projects work with the community to be mutually beneficial neighbors.

Learn More about CBAs

Download a Fact Sheet on Data Centers

Map of Data Centers

Learn to use this map by walking through a sample slide show Full Screen Map Data Center Storymap

The above map shows data centers and crypto mines as of Nov 2025.

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 yellow triangles represent known Crypto Mines – which are not Data Centers – but still energy and water superconsumers.

If you would like to interact with the map – click here.

The Human Impact

FAQs

How many data centers are there in Georgia?

We don’t quite know for certain:

–USA Data Centers listed 96 facilities in Georgia in April, 2025 when this page was created, but as of November, 2025 lists 145 facilities. We found that at least 40 of these 145 facilities are renting space within a larger data center location.

–Georgia Data Centers – Providers Map in Georgia, United States – listed 71 facilities in April, 2025 and lists 116 as of November, 2025.

Science for Georgia Interns have confirmed 97.

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

How much power are the in-use and planned data centers in Georgia using?

Science for Georgia has found 97 data centers that are in-use, and an additional 19 more that are in-progress and/or announced.

Total Power Capacity of 68 centers: 6500 MW
Total Power Capacity of 19 planned: 6200 MW

Total in-use and planned: 12,700 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 11 of them, and then square footage for 17 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 17 centers to estimate power capacity, and low and high water usage.

What is the 6500-8700 MW equivalent to?

Using the Georgia Power estimate of 1 MW for 450 homes.

6500 MW could then power 2.9 M homes.

12,700 MW could then power 5.7 M homes.

There are 4.6 M housing units in Georgia.

All four units of Plant Vogtle produce 4664 MW.

What is a GW Anyway?

How much water does a data center use?

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.”

How much water will the planned Georgia data centers use?

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, 12,700 MW – we get about 25 B to 50 Billion gallons / year.

Why does everything on here say "about" and "estimate"?

There is minimal reporting required for data centers in Georgia.

Many data centers deals are protected by non-disclosure agreements.

“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

Are there technical solutions to all this power and water consumption?

Yes!

There are solutions from more efficient cooling, water recirculation, and algorithmic efficiency.

Math Appendix

Total Power Capacity, Announced
1. This information is usually provided publicly by data centers. See the pop-ups on the map to learn more.
Power Capacity, Estimated
1. 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
1. 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 via:
  Power usage (MW) x 2 M Gal / yr (per MW)
Water Estimate, High
1. Another source has stated that water usage can be estimated using the estimate of 1.8 liters per kilowatt hour. Using this ratio, the math is:
  Pwr Usage (MW) x 8760 hours/year x 1000kW/MW x 1.8L/kWh x 1 G/3.785 L = water in G/yr

What about SB 34?

SB 34 ensures that data centers, and only data centers, pay the billions of dollars of costs they cause.

SB 34 was introduced by Sen Chuck Hufstetler who said, “[SB 34] would remove the costs of construction, distribution, and transmission costs from our consumer bills … and place the costs where it should be. Those that are responsible for these costs should be paying it. Our data centers can be good for the state but many of them I talk to agree they should be paying these costs.”

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.”