Ottawa County has a right to take advantage of the legal offramp given what is happening: “The spike in energy consumption generated by data centers would likely derail Michigan’s nation-leading climate plan, which calls for 100% renewable energy use in electricity generation by 2040. The climate legislation approved last fall includes an “offramp” that would keep gas or coal plants running if renewable sources cannot handle the load from the grid. Opponents say the data center electricity use surge would likely trigger that exception while also increasing residential consumers’ electric rates.”
This same article goes on to explain the challenges:
“The centers would require infrastructure improvements, upgrades and additions, McBrearty said, noting that residential ratepayers would likely shoulder most of those costs, Michigan’s 2016 energy bill shifted much of the state’s energy cost burden from large industrial and commercial users to individual residential customers. That helped send residential rates soaring while the state has continued to lower rates for industrial users. “These companies will be paying an industrial rate which covers the cost of the energy, but not the cost of the infrastructure and infrastructure upgrades,” he said. Though many tech companies have their own climate goals in place, advocates said they are unaware of examples of companies building renewable energy projects alongside data centers. Meanwhile the strain on the state’s electric grid is expected to increase as the economy electrifies and consumers move toward electric vehicles and heat pumps. Utilities already offer load forecasts that predict demand that would require coal plants to stay online, and the data centers will make the utilities’ case even stronger, said Charlotte Jameson, chief policy officer for Michigan Environmental Council.”
This is not just theoretical, because Microsoft has bought property in Kent County to build a massive data center.