Energy use from data centers in the U.S. is expected to double or triple in the next three years, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
While many ratepayers worry about their energy bills going up, some Western governors see this growth as an opportunity instead of a challenge.
“There isn't a better time, more opportunity for innovation, more technological advancement,” Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon said in a fireside chat alongside Utah Gov. Spencer Cox at a recent business forum in Laramie, Wyo.
The two, who appeared to have good rapport, said we need more power on the grid from renewables and fossil fuels.
“We can't just do it with windmills and solar panels,” Cox said. “We have to have natural gas. We have to use nuclear.”
“The question is,” Gordon added, “how do we put this together in a way that makes sense, that safeguards those things that we care about, like vistas, horizons, wildlife?”
One of the answers, the governors proposed, is carbon capture, which is supposed to remove carbon from power plants or the atmosphere and permanently lock it away. Cox said this can help keep coal plants alive.
“We can still burn coal and be fine,” he said.
Energy researchers, however, are skeptical of that approach, saying this technology doesn’t allow capture as much carbon as promised.
“It's a false solution. It’s a greenwashing solution,” Stanford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Mark Jacobson told the Mountain West News Bureau.
In addition to environmental concerns, another key question revolves around who will pay to get more energy on the power grid. Cox suggested the wealthy data center developers could bear that cost.
“They're willing to build a whole bunch of power that we're all going to need that will help them, but also help the average family who's struggling right now to make ends meet as power costs are going up,” Cox said.
This talk came after the Utah, Wyoming and Idaho governors signed an agreement to work together to make power grids more resilient earlier this year.
They say they’ve also been successful recently at partnering with Democratic governors on energy thanks to the Western Governors’ Association. That includes New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
“Governors across the West share many of the same challenges,” an office spokesperson said via email, “which is why Gov. Lujan Grisham enjoys sharing best practices from New Mexico and learning from her colleagues in other states.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
