Data Center Boom Sparks Battle Over Power Costs, New Regulations
California's growing network of data centers is drawing increased scrutiny from lawmakers and local communities as concerns mount over rising electricity costs.
California’s growing network of data centers is drawing increased scrutiny from lawmakers and local communities as concerns mount over rising electricity costs.
The state contains around 300 data centers which supports online banking, video conferencing, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, according to CBS News. This comes as California lawmakers consider bills to regulate data centers.
At the DataBank’s Irvine facility, equipment-filled rooms are kept at temperatures of about 60 degrees to prevent servers from overheating, the outlet reported.
“This is an uninterruptible power system,” said Tom Kordic, vice president of operations for DataBank’s West region told CBS News. “It’s essentially running off commercial power.”
The Democrat-dominated California legislature this year is mulling over several AI data center power regulation bills, per the outlet. One of these includes which is AB-222 Data Centers: power usage effectiveness: cost shifts.
This legislation was introduced by Democratic California State Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, who represents a district based in Silicon Valley.
A spokesperson for Bauer-Kahan did not immediately respond to rhe Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
“This bill would require the Energy Commission to establish a process for the owner of a data center,” the legislative counsel’s digest of the bill