'Extreme demand shock.' Data center boom raises electrical grid reliability questions

JANESVILLE — As Wisconsin continues to be flooded by new data center proposals, with more expected in coming years, UW-Madison data science researchers are raising alarms about whether the state’s existing electrical power grid can handle the anticipated rising load.

Utility companies like Alliant Energy, and multi-state energy transmission system operator MISO respond that they’re prepared to shoulder an expected, and unprecedented, massive spike in demand from such hyperscale projects.

The rising questions about statewide and Midwest region-wide electrical power grid reliability is key for Janesville, where an 800-megawatt data center is proposed to go on the 250-acre former General Motors assembly plant site on the city’s southside.

GM closed the plant at the end of 2008, followed by the demolition of the buildings there in 2018 and 2019. At its peak in the 1970s, the GM plant along Kellogg Avenue in Janesville employed about 7,000 people...

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RSK: Here in lies the power problem with Data Centers. I have been pointing this out for awhile, but now it is happening.