4 elements guiding the data center debate

Every time you scroll on social media, log on to a virtual meeting or make an online payment, you’re pinging a data center.

That has profound implications for the water and energy systems that the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University is working to transform. 

The stakes are high to get data centers right — particularly in Arizona, which has attracted more of them than most states and has many more in the queue.

But what does that look like?

For Gary Dirks, who co-directs Energy Forward, the laboratory’s energy transformation engine, “getting it right” depends on how well we address these four fundamental elements:

For now, every attempt to access the cloud is funneled into data centers.

But innovations in how we move data between memory and processor could revolutionize how that works — and, therefore, how many data centers are needed to keep pace.

Data centers are typically located close to the customers they serve because performance can degrade the farther a query originates from a data server. Even a few milliseconds of latency could hamper uses where real-time feedback matters, including Arizona’s growing autonomous vehicles industry.

If Arizona fails to provide adequate data processing capacity, it could impact future job prospects and our economic well-being. But major cities like Phoenix cannot provide the infrastructure to support every data center that’s being proposed.

To remain competitive, developers say they must build data centers quickly — mostly in the next two years. But in metro Phoenix, access to adequate power — not water — is the immediate bottleneck.

Data centers have requested so much electricity from Arizona’s three largest electricity utilities that it would take the equivalent of a new power plant each year to fulfill them.

Utilities are reworking how they analyze and charge major electricity users to ensure that they — not existing residential customers — shoulder the burden for this new infrastructure.

Even so, it takes years to build new power plants. And there could be stark consequences if utilities under- or overshoot power projections. Build too little capacity, and they run the risk of a blackout — which could risk lives in summer heat. But build too much, and the billions spent on new infrastructure could make power unaffordable, particularly for the most vulnerable — which also could risk lives.

Not every empty piece of ground may be suitable for a data center.

Extending infrastructure is easier and cheaper on some sites than others. And not all locations have community support to build.

Clearer ground rules must be developed to understand which projects bring more benefits than downsides to communities.

Not every data center proposal will come to fruition.

Communities are still fleshing out the impacts of data center heat, noise and infrastructure demands. Residents must be included in these conversations much earlier to mitigate their concerns.

If data centers are critical infrastructure — and there are strong arguments that they are — it’s important to treat them like roads, sewers and parks, and put similar policies in place to ensure that data center growth pays for itself.

Energy Forward is one of few groups in Arizona working to connect disparate interests and bring down the temperature of the data center debate. It knows that the concerns being brought up — such as providing affordable water and power as demand for limited resources increases — have no easy answers.

It will take strong social will to address the shortcomings without sacrificing the benefits of data centers. The future of our state and nation depends on how well we mobilize disparate voices to work together.

Energy Forward is gathering broad stakeholder groups to work through data center issues. Join them by emailing:

• Gary Dirks, Global Futures Laboratory senior director: [email protected];

• Kelly Barr, Global Futures Laboratory associate vice president and chief alliance officer: [email protected]

• Brian Sherman, NSF Futures Engine in the Southwest CEO: [email protected].