Data centers to support artificial intelligence, online commerce, and other digital applications are one of the fastest-growing components of the U.S. economy. Data centers require land and massive quantities of electricity. A single large “hyperscale” data center for complex artificial intelligence work can use 100 megawatts of electricity, representing electricity consumed by approximately 80,000 people.
This rapid growth in demand—called “load growth”—is unprecedented in recent decades. Electric utilities that serve all customers—residential, commercial, and industrial—are scrambling to find ways to provide adequate generation and enough wires to transport electricity from that generation to consumers. Some data centers are also going off-grid or partially off-grid—co-locating with existing generation or building new generation on site, and relying on electricity from the grid only for back-up power, or not at all.
Numerous policy issues arise from this trend, including revisions to local zoning ordinances to address local impacts of data centers, proposed limits on local government control over data centers, impacts of the reliability of the electric grid, rising costs of electricity, and the allocation of electricity rates to data center consumers and other ratepayer. The Center for Energy Law and Policy is analyzing these policies issues and providing menus of potential tools to address these rapidly emerging issues.
Our interdisciplinary team includes:
- Seth Blumsack, PhD, Co-Director of the Center for Energy Law and Policy and Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics and International Affairs, John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering
- Hannah Wiseman, JD, Co-Director of the Center for Energy Law and Policy; Professor, Penn State Law and College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
- Lara B. Fowler, JD, Director of Outreach and Engagement, Center for Energy Law and Policy; Professor of Teaching, Penn State Dickinson Law; Affiliate Faculty, Penn State School of International Affairs
- Michael Helbing, JD, Executive Director, Center for Energy Law and Policy.
