Texas senators indicated Sept. 1 that they intend to tighten regulations on data centers during next year\u2019s legislative session, which begins in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think every member’s district has had an impact from a data center conversation, so there will be plenty of bills trying to put things in place that are reasonable, responsible regulatory frameworks for data centers,\u201d state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, said during the latest legislative hearing on the booming industry. \u201cI’ll have a standalone bill to address data center water consumption [and] implement guardrails where determined appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The big picture<\/p>\n
With some Texas residents and conservation groups sounding the alarm about water-intensive technologies used by some data centers, state agencies have warned that limited information is available<\/a> on how much water the industry actually uses.<\/p>\n The Texas Water Development Board<\/a> and the Public Utility Commission of Texas<\/a> each sent surveys to data center developers early this year, requesting information about their facilities\u2019 water use. Officials said that:<\/p>\n 97 data centers, or 30% of the 324 facilities surveyed by the water development board, responded57 companies representing 168 facilities\u2014144 of which are data centers\u2014responded to the 377 surveys issued by the PUC<\/p>\n The surveys are required under state law, although officials said there is little they can do to force developers to complete them. Connie Corona, the PUC\u2019s executive director, said officials have also had trouble determining exactly how many data centers are operating in the state today, as there is no \u201ccomprehensive statewide list\u201d of existing and planned facilities.<\/p>\n Estimates from state agencies and the University of Texas at Austin suggest that roughly 370 data centers are currently operating in Texas, with about 100 facilities under construction and another 180 being proposed.<\/p>\n \u201cOur purpose is really trying to track what is [happening], even including announcements,\u201d said Ning Lin, the chief economist at UT Austin\u2019s Center for Energy Economics<\/a>. \u201cI don’t want people to look at the numbers and get alarmed, but we are trying to get the whole lay of the land. Many of them, we know they’re not going to get built.\u201d<\/p>\n Something to note<\/p>\n Corona also told the Senate Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee<\/a> that a \u201csignificant number\u201d of data center developers contacted the PUC about \u201cthe confidentiality of their information.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI’m glad you bring that up\u2014water is a fungible asset available for all 30 million-plus Texans, so there will be no confidentiality on water use,\u201d Perry, who chairs the committee, said. \u201cIf that’s a proprietary problem for [data centers] as a business model, your business model needs to work differently because you’re asking for a public resource. That’s not an excuse, and I would love to know who used that as an excuse because that indicates a lack of integrity, pretty much.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the Sept. 1 hearing, Perry asked state agencies, county leaders and local residents to share lists of data center developers that failed to respond to state surveys or refused to collaborate with the communities they are building in, which he called \u201cbad actors.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI believe many [data center developers] are good actors, but as always, there are bad actors,\u201d Perry said. \u201cI will mention specifically by name the one that I have dealt with in my district today. … Beacon<\/a> is not a good actor. They choose not to answer their phones; they choose not to communicate on local levels; they choose to operate in secrecy. And for that and that alone, as of today, [I will do] whatever I need to do to keep them from [building] wherever they’re going.\u201d<\/p>\n More details<\/p>\n Three data center developers testified during the hearing, telling lawmakers they were committed to using water resources responsibly, pouring money into local communities and covering their own infrastructure costs.<\/p>\n \u201cYou guys are talking about giving a tremendous amount of money back to communities,\u201d Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, told the developers. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a whole bunch of people coming to Texas\u2014over 377 of these entities\u2014and y’all may be the best actors out there.\u201d<\/p>\n The developers who testified represented Google<\/a>, which has data centers in Midlothian and Red Oak, plus three more facilities planned<\/a> for 2027; Lancium<\/a>, a company based in The Woodlands with three West Texas facilities; and QTS Data Centers<\/a>, which has campuses in the Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio areas.<\/p>\n Those companies said they largely use closed-loop cooling systems to maintain safe temperatures in the server rooms at their data center campuses. Closed-loop systems recirculate cooling fluids and cool air inside a \u201csealed loop,\u201d allowing facilities to use less water than some other types of cooling systems.<\/p>\n \u201cWater cooling is only considered if local water resources are healthy and resilient, and in locations facing threats of scarcity or depletion, we look for alternatives like air cooling or reclaimed water,\u201d said Ben Townsend, Google\u2019s head of infrastructure and sustainability. \u201cAll of our planned data centers in Texas … are conscientious of limited community water resources and are designed with advanced closed-loop air cooling systems that will help us eliminate freshwater consumption for cooling.\u201d<\/p>\n