As the debate over artificial intelligence data centers continues across the Pittsburgh region, many residents have taken to meetings to raise concerns over potential loud noise and issues with water usage.
Another issue that concerns people is power usage and how the centers could strain the grid. State Sen. Lindsey Williams says she plans to introduce legislation to address that.
The legislation would require data centers to contribute to Pennsylvania’s universal service programs and pay for the electric grid upgrades made for their benefit.
“Together, these changes would help mitigate the impact of the rising prices caused by data centers and lower utility costs for existing residential consumers,” a memo from Williams said.
The memo cites data from PJM, a regional grid operator. In a report, PJM said data center load growth is the main reason for recent capacity price increases.
“They do the auctions three years in advance,” Williams said.
Williams says that means PJM is already speculating that the number of these centers will increase and factoring this in.
“Even though that data center in your neighborhood may not be built yet, you’re already paying for it,” she said.
Williams said in her memo that by 2028, data centers are predicted to take more power than California, New York, and Illinois combined.
In Springdale Borough, dozens of neighbors have packed numerous borough council meetings over a proposed high-tech artificial intelligence data center, which would replace a former generation station.
“It’s going from something that used to add power to the grid to something that is going to suck tremendous amounts of power to the grid,” Williams said.
The legislation has not been introduced formally yet. Williams said she is talking with experts from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and experts before putting it forward.