Dominion Power claims that Virginians’ power usage keeps climbing, so they need to build new power plants that we’ll all pay for with rate hikes. Forced to release internal records, it turns out that the only increase is coming from building data centers.
Why should Virginians subsidize Amazon, whose budget is 7x Virginia’s? https://virginiamercury.com/2024/11/26/under-pressure-from-the-scc-dominion-reveals-the-true-cost-of-data-centers/
@waldoj
Large data centre planning should require by law to fund the full cost of their energy requirements. That should help keep the planet cooler somewhat.
@RaymondPierreL3 @waldoj
Data centre planning permission should be contingent on them providing sufficient renewable energy generation to make them net-positive. With quarterly reporting, and shut down if they do not deliver on that commitment.
@KimSJ @RaymondPierreL3 @waldoj some companies are already doing this. Solar installations on the same grid as the data center that actually supply more than the DC will use is a thing. I dont know the financials of installation vs operation, or if the DC companies get favorable rates for the effort, but I do know that green energy replacement has been a thing for a while
@KimSJ @ATLeagle @RaymondPierreL3 @waldoj this is happening, but:
a) not at the same rate as the new demand
b) there is very little renewable backup for low-generation periods, like overnight or cloudy days. Data Centers run 24/7
I love the new solar facilities, but it’s just not enough
@quoll @KimSJ @RaymondPierreL3 @waldoj and all the new demand is outpacing previous expectations, so natural gas generation is going to be built out more very soon