Datacenter Dynamics reported last week that two states - Nebraska and Iowa - are evidently in a shoot out to attract a $1.2B data center development project, and at least Nebraska is falling all over itself to offer attractive tax treatment. (I make that a 60 to 80 MW project.)
Maybe "attractive" isn't the word - Nebraska is willing to extend an existing program for large developments to data centers, absolving them of property taxes and providing refunds for local property taxes, and exemptions from sales taxes on equipment purchases and state use taxes. To which I ask, what taxes does Nebraska plan to levy on the project?
They're even considering legislation allowing public power districts to sell so-called "excess power" to large projects at lower rates. I wonder what that means...
As always, the stated rationale is to attract high-paying tech sector jobs, but if you've been to utility-scale data centers in the past, you know that there is plenty of room in the parking lot. There just aren't that many employees, certainly after the site is up and running and close to fully utilized. I've been to 40 MW data centers that have no more than twenty employees on site.
Industry colleagues have noted that it isn't their fault that cities, counties, and states bend over backwards to attract major data center developments, but that is as much a cop out as saying the industry shouldn't be held responsible for the carbon content of the power it buys.
If a company wants to build a data center in a community, they should pay their fair share of taxes to support that community and to mitigate any impacts of the project. Sure, seek out low power prices, but build to the highest efficiency standards and stand ready to implement carbon mitigation strategies.
Just ask Facebook how it feels to be held accountable for these standards by their customers. That treatment will be extended to everyone building these large data centers eventually, so it would seem prudent to me to carefully consider whether loopholes are your best strategy today.
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