Knowledge facilities could not be coming to a city close to New Yorkers if a pair of state legislators get their approach.
State Sen. Liz Krueger and Meeting member Anna Kelles launched a invoice that will create a three-year moratorium on information heart growth within the state, Wired reported. It’s considered one of a half-dozen states to not too long ago announce a measure to fight the proliferation of the commercial actual property sector.
“Democrats and Republicans are transferring ahead with precisely these sorts of moratoriums,” Krueger mentioned in a press convention. “New York needs to be within the entrance of the road to get this finished.”
The moratorium would see the cessation of permits issued for information heart initiatives whereas the Division of Environmental Conservation and the Public Service Fee work on studies assessing information heart impacts and suggesting rules.
Knowledge heart growth has turn out to be a big boon for the actual property trade, as huge expertise gamers more and more search out extra computing energy, notably for synthetic intelligence use. FMI Company recently forecasted a 23 % uptick in information‑heart building spending this 12 months, pushing the sector to greater than 6 % of all nonresidential constructing exercise — up sharply from 2 % in 2023.
However the developments are additionally fraught with controversy, particularly environmental issues and worries about influence on the grid.
New York is house to greater than 130 information facilities. A number of initiatives are within the works, together with a 450-megawatt growth in Ithaca. There’s a minimum of 10 gigawatts of electrical energy demand ready to be related to the grid.
Gov. Kathy Hochul not too long ago launched an initiative to insulate ratepayers from excessive power prices, demanding information heart builders “pay their fair proportion.”
Amongst these calling for a nationwide moratorium on such initiatives is Sen. Bernie Sanders. Meals and Water Watch additionally gathered lots of of environmental teams to press for a nationwide moratorium.
Different states the place data center moratoriums are into account embrace Georgia, Maryland, Oklahoma, Vermont and Virginia; the latter is likely one of the largest hubs of information facilities within the nation.
Learn extra
How data center commissions created a gold rush for commercial real estate brokers
AI giants warn Illinois privacy law could push data centers to neighboring states
Data center projects prop up CRE construction outlook
