Rendering courtesy of Vantage Data Centers
By AZ Big Media
Court Rich, co-founder of Rose Law Group and director of the firm’s Regulatory and Renewable Energy Department, says that data centers are “probably doing more to help the proliferation of renewable energy than any other sector.”
“Almost every data center user,” he continues, “is demanding that they be served by either all or an extremely high percentage of renewable energy. They’re driving development of solar, battery storage and wind projects, but those take time to build.”
Not only do these projects take time to complete, but they can run into development-related issues, such as getting approval for transmission lines to connect a solar project to the grid and going through local zoning.
“There’s a lot of disinformation out there,” Rich says. “Oftentimes, people complain about things that just aren’t true about solar — like the project is going to make their neighborhood a half mile away warmer or that it will deplete the water table. Solar uses almost no water. Usually, if you talk to someone reasonable about it, they get that most of the concerns are unfounded. But there’s certainly a right place for every kind of [land] use.”
