Massive data centers consuming large amounts of energy have eyes on South Dakota By Joshua Haiar, South Dakota Searchlight Route Fifty December 9, 2024 ‘Utilities are getting calls every week,’ state regulator says. “We’re talking loads that eclipse some of the largest cities in South Dakota,” he said. A single data center campus can require anywhere from 300 to 500 megawatts of electricity to operate. One megawatt can power hundreds of homes. By one estimate, there are over 1,000 hyperscalers worldwide, with the U.S. hosting just over half of them. Ryan Long, president of Xcel Energy, headquartered in Minneapolis, illustrated the extreme nature of the demand. “We now have, I would say, north of seven gigawatts of requests across the Xcel Energy footprint for data centers to locate in one of our eight states,” he said. “And I’ll be very frank that there’s no way that we’re going to be able to serve all of that in a reasonable amount of time.” Protecting existing customers from potential costs or energy shortages is another shared concern. Utility representatives emphasized the need for coal and natural gas to maintain a reliable “base load” when renewable sources like wind and solar are unavailable.
Tech is not saving us.