Wisconsin Data Center Intel

Recent Wisconsin data center news

• Apr 14, 2026

  AI Data Center Moratorium: Balancing Energy, Community, and Growth Risks

  Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have proposed a federal moratorium on new AI data centers until national safeguards covering environmental, energy, labor and civil liberties are established.

  • Main action: The sponsors introduced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act calling for federal pause on new AI data center builds until protections on environmental impact, energy consumption, labor, and civil liberties are implemented; the bill text is published by Sanders’ office and framed as a national safeguard mechanism.
  • Context and details: Local and state actions include a recently approved temporary ban in Maine and at least 36 US data center projects delayed or blocked between May 2024 and June 2025 (disrupting an estimated $162 billion in investment per Data Center Watch); industry responses include Microsoft’s Community-First AI Plan, vendor reports (Bloom Energy: a third of hyperscalers/colocation providers plan fully self-powered campuses by 2030), and vendor/CEO commentary (GridCare, Pado AI) on grid utilization, behind-the-meter power, and SMRs.
• Apr 14, 2026

  Data centers are moving inland, away from some traditional locations

  Synergy Research Group and Sightline Climate reported a geographic shift and widescale delays in U.S. data center construction.

  • Main announcement:Synergy Research Group finds the planning and build “center of gravity” for data centers is moving inland to Texas and Midwestern states (Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri). Sightline Climate reports 16 GW of data centers slated to open in the U.S. this year but only 5 GW are under construction now and expects 30–50% of projects to be delayed; 25 GW are announced for 2027 with only 6 GW under construction.
  • Background and details: Delays are driven by component shortages (memory, storage, batteries, electrical transformers, circuit breakers) and local opposition (e.g., the Seminole Nation banning data centers on tribal lands). Major cloud and AI firms named as project sponsors include Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and CoreWeave. The article also references Pennsylvania’s $70 billion push for data centers and notes many 2028–2032 projects have not broken ground.
• Apr 14, 2026

  AI boom derails clean-air efforts in heavily polluted cities

  The Trump administration has rolled back federal soot standards and taken actions to keep coal plants online to support AI-driven data center power demand.

  • Main action: In February the Trump administration scrapped Biden-era soot standards that were due to take effect in 2027 and issued an executive order (“Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry”), provided funding to keep coal plants running, delayed plant retirements, and rolled back rules on mercury and other toxins to support AI-driven electricity demand (DOE projects 50 gigawatts of new demand by 2030).
  • Background and specifics: The article cites the Labadie Energy Center (owned by Ameren Corp) as a major emitter; Reuters estimates the plant’s pollution drives an economic burden up to $5.5 billion per year, with about $820 million borne by St. Louis area residents. Biden-era soot limits would have required Labadie to cut soot emissions by more than half and delivered net public health benefits up to $3 billion by 2037; Ameren says Labadie will run for at least another decade to ensure reliability.
• Apr 14, 2026 · RMI

  Large Loads and Network Upgrades

  RMI (authors Mark Lozano, Tyler Farrell, Sarah Wang, Claire Wayner, Chaz Teplin) concludes that large load interconnection is causing a surge in material and transformational network upgrades and recommends system-wide and regional-first planning and increased regulatory oversight.

  • Main finding: The article documents that the large-load interconnection process is now driving a significant share of transmission investment, with an increased frequency of material ($10M–$50M) and transformational ($50M+) upgrades; it cites a proposed American Transmission Company transformational project to serve a 1.3 GW new load with estimated costs of $1.3B, and Virginia examples of a 111 MW substation upgrade costing $28 million and a 77 MW transformational upgrade costing $140 million.
  • Context and evidence: This is an analytical piece (not a new project announcement) that references existing proposals, regulatory filings, and regional data: PJM load-interconnection share rose from an average 5.7% (2005–2019) to 18% (since 2019); MISO load interconnection accounted for nearly 30% of transmission spending in 2025. The article cites linked reports and planning tools (E3, PJM TCPlanner, MISO MTEP) and recommends system-wide and regional-first planning plus greater regulatory oversight to avoid piecemeal, inefficient upgrades.
• Apr 14, 2026

  Opposition Toward OpenAI Brings Two Violent Attacks on CEO’s Home

  San Francisco police reported two attacks on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home within four days.

  • Main incident: At about 2:56 a.m. on Sunday, San Francisco police responded to possible shots fired in Russian Hill; a passenger fired a round from a car window, the license plate allowed SFPD to detain Amanda Tom (25) and Muhamad Tarik Hussein (23) and officers seized three firearms. Two days earlier a Molotov cocktail was thrown at Altman’s property gate by Daniel Alejandro Moreno-Gama (20); Moreno-Gama was arrested and charged with suspicion of attempted murder, arson, and possession/manufacture of an incendiary device.
  • Background and related details: The article references Altman’s blog post and OpenAI’s April 6 report “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age”, highlights rising anti-AI and anti-data center sentiment (including a separate shooting at Indianapolis Councilman Ron Gibson’s home), and notes a proposed $15 billion data center backed by OpenAI and Oracle and local pushback in multiple towns.
• Apr 13, 2026

  Hyperscale Growth Shifts Inland as AI Drives Power Demand

  Synergy Research Group reports US hyperscale data center expansion is shifting inland as AI-driven power needs prioritize Texas and the Midwest.

  • Shift details: Synergy finds Texas and the Midwest currently account for about one-third of US hyperscale capacity but are expected to capture more than half of new development; there were 580 operational US hyperscale data centers (end of 2025) and 437 additional US data centers in the pipeline (out of 803 planned globally), with the average capacity of new data centers over the next three years almost double that of currently operational facilities.
  • Context and drivers:Power availability has become the dominant site-selection criterion, alongside land, network access, incentives, and permitting; Texas is identified as the most active market, Northern Virginia remains the largest cluster (but not the primary expansion focus), and Midwestern states named include Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and Missouri; market concentration remains high with Amazon, Microsoft, and Google holding 58% of global capacity.
• Apr 11, 2026

  AI Data Centers Air Pollution Deaths: How Tech Boom is Killing Clean Air in US

  The Trump administration announced it rolled back federal soot standards in February 2026, citing surging electricity demand from AI data centers.

  • Main action: The administration reversed Biden-era soot protections and the President invoked emergency wartime powers to compel utilities to keep aging coal-fired power plants operating; the rollback was explicitly justified by surging electricity demand from AI data centers. Key figures: 4,000 data centers operational, 3,000 planned or under construction, and AI data center electricity share rising from 2% (2018) to 4.4% (2023) with projections of 6.7%–12% by 2028 and potential 11x increase by 2030 if unchecked.
  • Background and details:University of California, Riverside researchers project up to 1,300 premature deaths annually by 2030 tied to particulate pollution from extended fossil-fuel plant operation; Harvard University provided data-center counts; regional specifics include AI centers using 26% of Virginia’s electricity, proposed Nevada data centers requiring three times current Las Vegas electricity, and 70+ data centers in Los Angeles County where supervisors are considering a moratorium and a health impact assessment. Also noted: Clean Wisconsin projections and more than 60 Virginia state bills addressing data center growth and grid impact.
• Apr 10, 2026

  Anchorage Blocks New Data Centers in ‘Residential Zones’

  The Anchorage Assembly (city government) passed a new city ordinance defining data center land use and review requirements.

  • Ordinance passed 10-2: The ordinance bans new data centers in residential zones, limits data centers to commercial and industrial zoned districts, and requires a public review process plus input from local utilities before approval. It also requires disclosure of water and energy capacity and other environmental impact information.
  • Context and background: Anchorage’s action is framed as a proactive response to an anticipated surge in data center construction due to Alaska’s cooler climate; the article references a whitepaper by The Alaska Center urging clear disclosure of water draws, cites a Davis Wright Tremaine note that Anchorage currently has one colocation data center, and notes parallel anti-data-center actions in other U.S. communities (Festus, MO; Port Washington, WI).
• Apr 9, 2026

  Hyperscalers will own two-thirds of data center capacity by 2031

  Synergy Research Group reported that hyperscalers will account for 67% of all data center capacity by 2031.

  • Main announcement: Synergy Research Group says hyperscalers (Google, Microsoft, AWS) will reach 67% of global data center capacity by 2031, with enterprise on-prem data centers dropping from 56% in 2018 to 19% by 2031; the report also notes almost 60% of hyperscale capacity is in own-built facilities and non-hyperscale colocation accounts for ~20%.
  • Background & details: The article cites planned > $500 billion in capex by Google/Microsoft/AWS for AI infrastructure in fiscal year 2026, cites hyperscalers operating ~1,297 large data centers in Q3 2025 (1,360 by end-2025), references commitments such as the Ratepayer Protection Pledge (Google, Oracle, xAI, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Amazon) and highlights electricity demand concerns (EIA: price hikes up to 79% in areas like Texas by 2027); it references expanded compute partnerships (Anthropic–Google/Broadcom; OpenAI–AMD) with multi-gigawatt capacity starting 2027.
• Apr 8, 2026

  Wisconsin Town Votes to Restrict Tax Incentives for OpenAI Data Center

  Residents of Port Washington passed a referendum restricting city officials from granting tax incentives for large projects without voter approval.

  • Main announcement: The referendum requires voter approval before city leaders may offer tax incentives for any future development project valued at more than $10 million; the measure passed with 2,710 votes in favor and 1,371 opposed (more than 50% of 8,257 registered voters participated).
  • Context and details: The vote was triggered by plans for a proposed $15 billion data center campus tied to the Stargate project (a reported $500 billion national AI infrastructure initiative led by OpenAI and SoftBank); Oracle said the proposed campus would contribute $175 million toward local infrastructure upgrades and estimate 4,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent positions.