Seattle’s Growing Data Center Scene Could Hike Power Costs

There seems to be a kind of “gold rush” of data centers being proposed all over the United States, and now especially in Washington state. Large parts of Washington state seem to be in the enviable position of having lots of room, a fair amount of water, and relatively inexpensive electricity. 

Now, several reports say that Seattle might be a target for multiple data centers. 

According to Seattletimes.com,
‘The data center boom fueling artificial intelligence’s rise could be coming to Seattle proper, which the city utility says could make its job of providing power to residents more difficult. Four companies have approached Seattle City Light about building five large-scale data centers with a combined maximum demand of 369 megawatts — roughly one-third of what the city uses on an average day. 
City Light said it couldn’t share which companies were involved or the proposed locations due to nondisclosure agreements.’ 

Seattle already has its share of data centers, but they're relatively small and don't have a huge impact on electrical rates. This new proposal could wind up causing electrical rates to skyrocket in this Seattle area. 

Seattle City Light says their grid is already under stress and adding this kind of load could strain engineering staffing and the infrastructure needed to service just their current customers. 

We here in the Wenatchee Valley have our own connection with Microsoft and their data center that's going to be constructed at the old Alcoa Plant in Malaga. Microsoft will be providing their own energy partnering with Chelan County PUD and Helion energy.  

The possibility of adding five huge data centers to the Seattle grid that's also having to adapt to many buildings, (large and small) switching to electric heating, the increase in the use of electric vehicles along with expanding population would drive energy prices up and possibly push the grid to the breaking point. 

According to axios.com,
‘City Light says it is rewriting contracts for large power users, which could require the companies behind the proposals to secure their own energy and pay for grid upgrades.’ 

The next step now is to wait for the companies Interested in building these data centers in Seattle to decide if they are ready to move forward.  

We will know more in the next few months.