Five projects in works in Wisconsin, driving demand for power
The Vantage Data Center in Port Washington is on its way to becoming the largest single energy user in state history — an indication of the immense power needs of the five data centers in the works in Wisconsin.
We Energies plans to add 6.3 gigawatts of power generation capacity — enough to power 4.5 million to 6.5 million homes, and more than the entire capacity of generating plants owned by We Energies — over the next five years, a good chunk of it to supply the eventual power needs for the Port Washington center.
The power supplier for more than a million customers in Wisconsin confirmed for the Badger Institute this week that its buildout of 2 gigawatts of gas and 4.3 gigawatts of renewable energy generation coincides with a request for 1.3 gigawatts of available power by 2027 from Vantage.
Vantage officials have said a long-range plan calls for 3.5 gigawatts of demand at their plant, although details of that plan have not been provided to local officials.
This rapid expansion of the artificial intelligence (AI) and data storage industry is sharply focusing attention on a huge new demand for energy and how best to supply it in a region forecast to be at risk for a severe energy shortfall in the coming years.
The Badger Institute has written extensively about the issue for the past two years and has been an urgent voice calling for the state to become a leader in a national revival of the long stagnant nuclear energy industry.
Just a year ago, when the Badger Institute first reported on Port Washington, Microsoft’s data center campus and its promise to overdeliver on billions of dollars in investment in Mount Pleasant was the talk of the state.
Its need for 450 megawatts of power, roughly a third of Vantage’s current projected need, would have made the Microsoft campus the largest single energy user in the state.
Today, Microsoft is hiring for its Mount Pleasant campus and has already begun planning for an expansion in Kenosha.
The Port Washington Common Council is expected to consider an initial development agreement at its Aug. 19 meeting, according to BizTimes. Initial plans call for Vantage’s builder, Cloverleaf Infrastructure, to build four data center buildings on a south section of the 1,900-acre site.
Vantage is agreeing to pay up front for an estimated $175 million in road, power, water, sewer and wastewater treatment upgrades, and a new water tower to serve the center.
Property tax revenue generated by a tax increment district created for the site would eventually reimburse Vantage, according to the agreement.
Other plans
In late July, Caledonia fielded a plan from a Virginia engineering firm for a center.
Companies last month ventured beyond the Lake Michigan corridor to propose data centers in Beaver Dam and in Dane County.
In every case, the availability of affordable land, the assurance of the energy necessary to power data centers and proximity to the state’s two largest metro centers have been the drivers.
At the same time, the Public Service Commission has until the end of the year to take action on a We Energies proposal (see page 9) that would require all data centers using 500 megawatts — that is, 0.5 gigawatts — or more to pay for the energy they use and all of the costs for new power generation and distribution.
This “very large customer tariff” will ensure that none of the costs of big data center expansion in the state are underwritten through residential and business rate increases, utility officials said.
Microsoft is furthest along, having begun in 2023 piecing land purchases together for what is currently a 1,900-acre campus in Mount Pleasant. Late last week, the company announced it had begun hiring what is expected to be a staff of 500 specialists as well as contractors to operate the center.
Construction has not yet started on the more than 230 acres of property in Kenosha for which Microsoft paid $35 million in January. Other than its intention to build some kind of data center there, the company has not disclosed the scale or a timetable for the project.
In Caledonia, as has been the case with several other projects, the ultimate owner and operator and the size and scale of the data center has not yet been disclosed for 240 farmland acres near the Oak Creek Power Plant. The majority of the land is owned by We Energies.
Caledonia’s village board may have anticipated a data center proposal early this year when it voted to create a new zoning category, transition light industrial, tailored for projects like a data center.
No proposals had been made at the time of the zoning change, the Racine County Eye reported.
The village Plan Commission is expected to consider rezoning the We Energies property to transition light industrial at its Aug. 25 meeting after residents at the commission’s July meeting complained they knew too little about the project.
In Beaver Dam, residents are still waiting to learn officially whether Meta is the company intending to build a data center campus on 830 acres near U.S. Highway 151, as reported in April from an unnamed source by Bloomberg.
Bloomberg called it a $1 billion AI and data “cloud” project but provided no breakdown of the value. Farmers had been paid top dollar — in some cases $20,000 an acre — for the campus property, according to the story.
In Dane County’s Town of Vienna, QTS Data Centers got assurances for sufficient energy from Alliant Energy before pitching a data center campus 14 miles north of Madison.
Such a project would require as many as 15 buildings at an investment of as much as $350 million for each building, Tag Greason, co-chief executive officer for QTS, told Wisconsin Public Radio early in July.
Greason, whose Virginia company developed and owns 75 data centers in the U.S. and Europe, learned of the opportunity in the Madison area through a data center partnership with Alliant in Iowa.
Greason and his media staff declined to respond to emails from the Badger Institute asking for an update on the Vienna project.
In Wisconsin Rapids, late last month the city learned that Digital Power Optimization Inc. withdrew a proposal the company made in January to build a $200 million AI computing plant on six acres of property owned by the local Consolidated Water Power Co.
Kyle Kearns, city director of community development, told the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune privately held New York-based Digital Power determined the site was no longer suitable for its project but did not say why.
The City of Janesville, not content waiting for proposals, invited prospective data center developers to consider locating on the city-owned 240-acre site of the former General Motors Assembly Plant.
The south side plant has been vacant since 2008, but there have been inquiries about the location for data center development, Jimsi Kuborn, the city’s economic development coordinator, told the Badger Institute.
The City Council approved soliciting requests for proposals on July 14. Prospective developers have until the end of the workday next Thursday — Aug. 14 — to submit proposals.
As of Thursday, the city had received no proposals, Kuborn said.
Mark Lisheron is the Managing Editor of the Badger Institute.
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