Wisconsin Data Center News

Jan 21, 2026

Silicon Valley’s AI boom is an environmental time bomb

Tina Landis (Liberation News) publishes an opinion piece arguing that Big Tech’s rapid expansion of AI-driven hyperscale data centers is creating severe, measurable environmental harms in the United States and globally.

Main claim & evidence: The article documents hyperscale data center environmental impacts including freshwater use up to five million gallons per day, energy consumption currently equivalent to France, projected growth to the energy use of 1.4 billion people by 2030 (IMF), and that 20 data center proposals worth $98 billion were blocked or delayed between April and June 2025 (Data Center Watch). It also cites a UNEP warning: “We need to make sure the net effect of AI on the planet is positive before we deploy the technology at scale.”
Background & supporting details: The piece lists concrete harms across the lifecycle: raw material extraction (800 kg of materials for a 2 kg computer), e-waste exports to the Global South, 5–10% increases in household energy bills, community resistance across multiple U.S. states (Arizona, Wisconsin, Virginia, Oklahoma), and notes Big Tech (Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon) is spending collectively hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers while pushing for expanded power infrastructure and nuclear expansion by 2050.

Jan 21, 2026

ERMCO Expands Transformer Manufacturing West with New Arizona Facility

ERMCO announced it will open a new 566,121-square-foot three-phase transformer manufacturing facility in Waddell, Maricopa County, Arizona.

Facility details: The plant is 566,121 square feet, located in Waddell (≈30 miles west of Phoenix), will focus on three-phase transformer production, is expected to be operational in 2027, and foundational work will begin this year; the project is expected to create more than 500 jobs in engineering, skilled trades, and operations.
Context and justification: The announcement cites ongoing transformer supply shortages, drivers such as aging grid infrastructure, rapid load growth from data centers and electrification, and states site selection was influenced by proximity to Western U.S. customers, Arizona’s business climate, and a skilled labor market. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc. and currently employs nearly 3,500 workers across facilities in Tennessee, Georgia, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Texas, Quebec, and Mexico.

Jan 20, 2026

Moody’s: $3 Trillion Data Center Investment by 2030 Amid Power Challenges

Moody’s Ratings has released its 2026 outlook for global data center infrastructure projecting major investment and highlighting power and AI-related risks.

Main announcement: Moody’s projects at least $3 trillion in global data center infrastructure investment over the next five years, forecasts global data center electricity consumption to reach ~600 TWh in 2026 (up from 525 TWh in 2025), and estimates the six largest hyperscalers in the US will spend $500 billion in capex in 2026, rising to $600 billion in 2027. The outlook also flags a potential AI investment bubble and rising construction and operating costs due to labor, commodities, and equipment constraints.
Background and details: Moody’s notes key constraints and responses: power availability (DOE projects AI could account for 9% of US electricity demand by 2030), reliance on pre-leased capacity to large tech tenants increasing counterparty concentration, developers’ short-term use of behind-the-meter generation, medium-term contracts for new generation and transmission, and long-term interest in emerging technologies such as small modular reactors (SMRs). The report includes comments from Moody’s senior VPs John Medina and Raj Joshi on lease risk allocation and diversification strategies.

Jan 20, 2026

Google sees CO2 batteries as large-scale way to store renewable energy

Google has announced it is commissioning construction of CO2 batteries to provide green, reliable backup power for its major data centers in the United States, Europe and parts of Asia, and has made an equity investment in Energy Dome.

Main announcement/action: Google is commissioning construction of CO2 battery units with Milan-based Energy Dome and has made an equity investment in the company; Energy Dome’s Ottana, Sardinia facility is storing 2,000 tons of CO2, can deliver 200 MWh (20 MW over 10 hours), the expandable dome requires ~5 acres, the Sardinia facility was built in <2 years and dome inflation took <0.5 day.
Background and details: The tech is positioned as a longer-duration alternative to lithium-ion (typical lithium-ion backup: 4–8 hours); Energy Dome says expected lifetime is nearly three times that of lithium-ion and expects it to be ~30% cheaper; Alliant Energy has regulatory approval to begin construction of a CO2 battery in Wisconsin to supply 18,000 homes; potential local opposition noted due to stadium-height dome and risk of CO2 release (Energy Dome describes releases as negligible).

Jan 15, 2026

Microsoft Shifts to Community-First Model for Scaling AI Infrastructure

Microsoft has published a new Community-First Infrastructure framework for how it will build and run AI data centers in the United States, and said it will begin applying the framework in new and expanding US markets in the first half of 2026.

Main announcement: Microsoft published the Community-First Infrastructure playbook authored by Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, committing to apply the framework in new and expanding US markets in H1 2026, pay full local property taxes on data center developments, contract for new generation and fund grid upgrades (including 7.9 GW contracted in the MISO market), and set a data center water-use intensity reduction target of 40% by 2030.
Background and concrete details: The framework pledges tariffs that reflect full cost of serving large data center loads (supporting rate models that charge “very large customers” for infrastructure), funding transmission and substation upgrades, adoption of closed-loop cooling and funding local water system upgrades where needed (example: work with the Quincy Water Reuse Utility), expanded workforce pipelines with North America’s Building Trades Unions and Microsoft Data Center Academy, and community AI literacy and small-business training programs.

Jan 14, 2026

Emerging Data Center Markets: Key Locations to Watch in 2026

Cushman & Wakefield reports that power and land constraints in major U.S. data center hubs are driving operators to consider secondary and tertiary markets.

Main announcement: Cushman & Wakefield finds power and land constraints in primary hubs (Northern Virginia, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Atlanta, Portland/Eastern Oregon) are shifting site selection toward secondary/tertiary markets; highlights include OpenAI’s Stargate (~$100 billion) and Vantage Frontier (~$25+ billion) as large upcoming projects.
Details/background: Regions such as Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, Central Washington, New Jersey, and Massachusetts are offering economic incentives, faster approvals, and flexible regulatory frameworks; Central Washington offers low-cost hydro power enabling 100% renewable operation but is also facing power constraints.

Jan 14, 2026

Microsoft tells communities it will ‘pay its way’ as AI data center resource usage sparks backlash

Microsoft announced a new Community-First AI Infrastructure strategy in a blog post, committing to avoid increasing local residential power or water bills and to strengthen local water systems rather than burden them.

Main announcement: Microsoft will not pass increased electricity costs to residential customers, saying “We’ll pay our way,” and backing this with actions including support for new utility rate structures (example: Wisconsin) to charge data centers the true cost, contracting with MISO to add 7.9GW of new generation, pledging to reduce data center water use by 40% by 2030, and to replenish more water than it uses in the same districts (examples: water reuse in Quincy, WA; leak detection partnerships in Nevada and Phoenix). It also pledged to publish regional water-use data and fully fund required utility infrastructure.
Background and details: The announcement was published as a company blog post and references sector context such as the IEA projection that US data center electricity demand could more than triple by 2035; analysts Matt Kimball and Yaz Palanichamy are cited as framing these as established design principles and urging measurable, realistic sustainability metrics. Microsoft says it will collaborate early with utilities, pursue efficiency gains (including AI and new technologies like nuclear), and advocate for state and federal policies to make reclaimed/recycled industrial water a default data center supply.

Jan 13, 2026

Microsoft's Brad Smith Pushes Big Tech to 'Pay Our Way' for AI Data Centers

Microsoft is urging that the tech industry — not taxpayers — should pay the full costs for electricity, transmission and grid upgrades needed to support large AI data centers, as promoted by Microsoft president Brad Smith in meetings with federal lawmakers.

Main action: Microsoft (Brad Smith) is pushing a plan for industry-funded grid and transmission upgrades, proposing a rate tariff and saying the company will help pay additional costs in states like Wisconsin; Microsoft also referenced a 150-megawatt solar farm and reiterated its carbon-negative by 2030 commitment.
Background and details: Local opposition cites higher electricity prices, heavy water use, and land/quality-of-life concerns; examples include a multibillion-dollar Amazon data center in Hobart, Indiana with two $5 million permit payments and $175 million in milestone payments over three years, and regional rate impacts in Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic grid. The article is an edited AP interview (Matt O’Brien and Marc Levy).

Jan 13, 2026

Tony Evers says Wisconsin can host large data centers and protect the environment

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said he believes the state can host large data centers while protecting the environment.

Main announcement: Gov. Tony Evers stated Wisconsin can capture economic gains from massive data centers while keeping the environmental piece “in a good place.” He has championed investments by companies such as Meta and Microsoft, and the bipartisan 2025-27 state budget included a sales tax exemption for qualified data centers certified by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. A Wisconsin Policy Forum report projects rising electricity demand tied to data centers and notes large-scale data centers use tens of millions of gallons per year of water.
Background & policy details: Both parties in the Wisconsin Legislature have proposed regulation: a Republican bill would direct the Public Service Commission to prevent other ratepayers from absorbing electrical infrastructure costs, require on-site renewables that primarily serve a data center, mandate closed-loop cooling and annual water-usage reporting to the Department of Natural Resources, and require land restoration; a Democratic bill would require data centers to report energy and water usage to the PSC, set renewable energy usage requirements, sustainable building standards, a pay rate for construction workers, assess a fee to data centers, and create a new energy category, rate and tariff for data centers.

Jan 12, 2026

Mastering the architecture of hybrid edge environments

Mary E. Shacklett (President of Transworld Data) outlines best practices for building a hybrid edge IT architecture for 2026.

Main announcement: Mary E. Shacklett recommends IT leaders build a hybrid architecture to manage rapidly growing edge sites in 2026, focusing on three critical areas: mature IT architecture elements, roles of IT and end users, and synergy between edge IT and central IT; she highlights mini-data centers, zero-trust networks, and the need to predefine interface protocols, devices, and hardware/software stacks.
Implementation details and background: The article describes concrete practices including use of AI and automated orchestration for at-site compute (examples: autonomous sensors; AI embedded in manufacturing applications), training tech-savvy users/super users for on-site support, adopting a “store and forward” data transfer model with majority uploads at night, and defining disaster recovery/failover with replication to cloud or corporate data centers (no financial figures or timelines beyond the 2026 context).

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