In Georgia, proposals to build data centers have stirred up communities, concerned about the potential impact of these facilities on the state. Georgia is leading the charge to ban data centers used to fuel the rise of artificial intelligence in the United States. One of the reasons is the high electricity consumption of these facilities. According to Cointelegraph, a similar scenario is unfolding for AI hyperscalers and developers as they rush to establish energy-intensive data centers.
A Georgia state legislator introduced a bill proposing what could become the first statewide moratorium on new data centers in the US
“Politicians face a lot of pressure to talk about the cost of living, and electricity prices are now the clearest example of affordability issues,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of politics and government and a pollster at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, according to El Independiente. These projects are encountering local resistance due to concerns about electricity demand, infrastructure costs, and environmental impact, local media report. According to The Guardian, Georgia is becoming ground zero in the fight against the rapid growth of facilities that use enormous amounts of energy and water.
According to local media reports, Georgia Power’s monthly rates have increased sixfold in the last two years, currently averaging $175 per month for a typical residential customer. AI data centers now face comparable scrutiny, particularly in states like Texas, Georgia, Illinois, and Mississippi, where residents and officials are questioning the long-term implications of hosting this energy-intensive infrastructure. As a result, a Georgia state legislator introduced a bill proposing what could become the first statewide moratorium on new data centers in the United States.
Technology and AI occupy space in the cloud, which in turn occupies physical space
The fact is that Georgia Power is now proposing to spend $15 billion to expand its power generation capacity, primarily to meet the demand of data centers. This bill is one of at least three state moratoriums on data centers introduced in state legislatures last week, while lawmakers in Maryland and Oklahoma are also considering similar measures. As we can see, some communities are taking steps to temporarily halt the development of new AI data centers while officials review zoning regulations, backup power plans, and the impact on local infrastructure.
According to local media, analysts attribute the increase in electricity bills to a combination of factors. Therefore, the Georgia bill seeks to halt all such projects until March of next year “to allow state, county, and municipal officials time to establish the policies necessary to regulate data centers… that permanently alter our state’s landscape,” said the bill’s sponsor and Democratic state legislator Ruwa Romman. The increased energy costs include projects to modernize the grid and reinforce poles, cables, and substations against extreme weather and wildfires. Companies like Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, have faced backlash against their proposed expansion plans. These companies, along with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, have found Texas to be a prime location for their operations.
Let’s remember that it’s not just about electricity; Georgia residents are also concerned about the water usage and tax revenue that a data center of this scale entails. This comes at a time when the Georgia Public Utilities Commission (the agency that oversees the utility Georgia Power) approved a plan last month to provide an additional 10 gigawatts of power over the next few years. Companies like Microsoft and OpenAI are also adopting more community-centric infrastructure strategies to address rising power generation costs. As for Georgia Power, data shows that this was the largest amount of electricity requested for a multi-year plan in the commission’s history. Thus, technology and AI occupy space in the cloud, which in turn occupies physical space since they rely on supercomputers that require electricity, and therefore large buildings and all that entails. That’s the point for the residents of this state.