A bill that would provide state incentives to data centers is drawing heat due to concerns about the impacts on the environment and other users of electricity. Data centers, which house large numbers of computers, use a lot of energy and water.A bill that would provide state tax rebates to draw data centers to Colorado has run into opposition from critics who warn of the facilities’ large demands for energy and water and potentially higher costs for other electric customers.
“I really feel that we should just kill the bill, that no amendments would make it acceptable,” said John Gavan, a former member of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and a vocal critic of the bill. “We are on this steep decarbonization path to 2030 where we’re going to be shutting down the remaining coal-fired power plants,” Gavan said. “If we had a couple of gigawatts of new show up, all bets are off.”
In the end, other electric customers will likely bear the costs of paying for the generation and transmission infrastructure to help service any new, large data centers, Gavan said. The city of Aurora approved a rebate of sales and use taxes for the project contingent on the number of jobs and salary levels. Arapahoe County approved a 50% refund of the company’s personal property taxes.