• Companies say geothermal and closed-loop cooling systems require a fraction of the water that older data centers use.

 

By Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile.com

Among the many data center developers with sights on Wyoming, two of them alone — Microsoft and Prometheus Hyperscale — could require more power than double the state’s existing electricity consumption, according to estimates.

Where that power will come from is still under consideration. And the water required to cool all those hot computing servers — a growing concern, according to local officials — is surprisingly smaller than one might expect. Thanks to direct-chip and geothermal cooling, along with an industry-wide move to a closed-loop mix of propylene glycol and water that needs refilling only once every six years, each new computing center will use little more than a retail store, according to some industry representatives.

The scale of planned computing centers is so massive, Prometheus Hyperscale says, that the industry is simply forced to turn to advanced cooling systems that don’t rely on evaporating large volumes of water. “It just so happens that [Prometheus Hyperscale’s technology] doesn’t consume water on a continuous basis,” founder and Chief Executive Officer Trenton Thornock told a legislative panel earlier this month. 

The Legislature’s Select Water Committee quizzed Prometheus officials, along with representatives for Microsoft and Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins, noting mounting concerns for the industry’s reputation as a huge drain on water resources. Some local governments across the nation are even considering banning or placing moratoriums on new data center construction until there’s more transparency and certainty regarding water consumption. Concerns stem from the water needed not only for cooling servers, but also for the massive volumes of new electrical generation required to power them.

Such a drastic policy move would be an economic misstep, Collins said. 

Data center boom, benefits and concerns

The drive for more data centers to power artificial intelligence and myriad other computations is so large that some compare it to the nation’s past buildout of railroads and the interstate highway system. In modern-day dollars, companies are investing about $756 billion this year on the “AI build-out,” according to Goldman Sachs, and they’ll spend a projected $1.6 trillion in 2031. That’s about 22% of what the federal government spends in a year.

Cheyenne is already home to 13 large data centers, including the National Center for Atmospheric Research supercomputer. Microsoft planted its first of 11 data centers in Cheyenne in 2012 and, along with other partners, plans to add three new computing “campuses.” OpenAI, Meta and Crusoe also have plans in the region and speculation abounds about new computing campuses throughout the state from Evanston to Casper.

Mayor Collins said he’s heard an increasing volume of concerns over data centers in his hometown. Some residents are irked at the recent wave of annexation to accommodate the buildout. But each new annex that city officials consider is surrounded by city property and is brought to them by willing landowners, he said.

Light pollution, unchecked growth, skyrocketing electric bills are also concerns. “Our biggest conversation is about water,” Collins said. None of the concerns, including about water, are insurmountable, he added.

“I want you to know that our expectations of a company will be to do no harm when they come into our community,” Collins testified.

The city has coordinated with the state and Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power to create a separate electric tariff for data centers. Essentially, it holds average customers harmless by contracting directly with data centers instead of folding them into the larger service territory. Proactive zoning and planning stipulations set standards and limits for things like light and noise pollution.

Rather than being a hindrance, the industry provides hundreds of high-paying jobs and has been a boost to the economy without placing a strain on local services or the city’s water supply, Collins said. 

The current fleet of computer banks in Cheyenne uses about 200 acre-feet of water annually, according to Collins. That’s 1.48% of all water consumed in Cheyenne. Collins recently spoke with a data center developer who claims their closed-loop cooling system will require the same amount of water as eight single-family homes, he said.

“The estimate is that all the [planned] data centers combined would use about 400 acre-feet of water per year. Combined, that’s about 3% of our current water usage, and about 1.8% of the 22,000 acre-feet we have available annually at the City of Cheyenne.” 

 

Residents urge caution

Still, the committee heard pleas from the public to proceed cautiously, particularly with water resources. The rush to build data centers is happening faster than many small towns can handle, Wyoming Outdoor Council Government Relations Manager Auna Kaufmann said. And the potential strain on water resources remains largely unknown, especially regarding the industry’s thirst for massive amounts of new electric power generation.

“We appreciate that the [project developers] that are coming in now are operating in good faith,” Kaufmann said. “But not all of our municipalities have the resources to evaluate those impacts. As a state, we should make sure that we have regulatory frameworks in place that will protect them as well.”

Others urged the panel to demand more transparency from the industry long before deals are made to allow new projects.

“They will claim that [closed-loop cooling systems are] filled once and basically circulated forever,” said Cheyenne Republican Rep. Gary Brown, who does not serve on the Select Water Committee. “Well, that may be true in a laboratory, but we don’t live in a laboratory. We live in Wyoming. We live in a state where water is a big issue.”

The committee took no legislative action on the subject and will take up the topic when it meets again in August.

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