Rachel Kutzley of Save Ohio Parks has created a comprehensive report summarizing policy and legislation that would allow Ohio to “leverage the data center buildout to expand its leadership in carbon free energy manufacturing.” Recommendations and the Executive Summary are listed below. The full report is linked here.

Summary of Recommendations

• Place a moratorium on data center approvals until new regulations are
adopted. Prohibit the use of non disclosure agreements and require public
consultation in siting decisions.

• Require data centers to meet or offset their energy demand with 100% solar, wind, and energy storage, either colocated or off-site, by investing in utilityscale, community, or residential energy resources.

• Require data centers to implement best practices for energy efficiency and workload flexibility.

• Update Ohio energy laws to allow community energy, virtual net metering,
and demand response flexibility.

• Ensure parity in Ohio law among all sources of energy, with the same
provisions for state control and local input for oil, gas, solar, wind, battery
storage, and others.

• Ensure data centers pay necessary grid modernization costs to support grid reliability.

• Require water efficiency measures and public reporting on water use. Require discharge water to be filtered and monitor discharge to ensure compliance.

Executive Summary

A surge of investment in data centers has strained the electric grid nationwide, and Ohio is no exception. With over 200 data centers, Ohio ranks fifth in the country for data center growth. This investment comes with a cost, however – data centers use tremendous amounts of energy and water, threatening to drive up costs for consumers, destabilize our grid, and pollute our air and water. 

Recognizing these risks, Ohio can capitalize on the economic opportunities of data centers while ensuring that their growth benefits local communities. Meeting the energy demand of data centers requires a more flexible and decentralized electric system. It will require massive investment – and also creates an opportunity to modernize the grid and build a more resilient and sustainable energy system. 

In the clean energy manufacturing sector, Ohio is already leading the field with two major solar manufacturers and significant investments in battery cell manufacturing. Thousands of Ohioans are employed in the growing carbon-free energy sector. In contrast, Ohio counties with the most fracking for fossil fuels have seen a loss in employment and population since the fracking boom began in 2008. 

Ohio should leverage the data center buildout to expand its leadership in carbon free energy manufacturing. Data centers should be required to meet their energy needs with solar, wind, and battery storage, either by building large-scale plants or by investing in distributed energy resources like residential solar and batteries.

This report focuses on the energy sector impacts of data centers and potential policies to mitigate those impacts while meeting energy demand. It makes recommendations for regulating data centers, as well as for policy reforms to support a more distributed, resilient, and sustainable energy system. If data center investment can be channeled into tomorrow’s clean infrastructure, the data center boom can benefit all Ohioans.