Massachusetts is a knowledge economy that already leans heavily on AI. Turning our backs on data centers feels hypocritical. That doesn’t mean, however, that we should roll out the welcome mat with tax credits and let data center builders dictate the shots.
Governor Maura Healey has offered up a solid framework to guide any future data center buildout. Her “bring your own clean energy” approach strikes the right note. It says to developers: Yes, you can build here but not on the backs of energy ratepayers. And you can’t burn planet-warming fossil fuels or pass along the costs of connecting your enterprise to the power grid. The governor wants data centers to either build their own clean energy supplies or pay into a ratepayer protection fund.
The governor’s stated approach is to try to balance economic growth alongside protections for Massachusetts residents. Healey also signed an executive order this month requiring community approval before state permits are issued to new data centers.
Jennifer Granholm, a former secretary of energy under former president Joe Biden, called the governor’s plans a “good blueprint for the rest of the country.”
Granholm said Healey “isn’t reflexively saying ‘no’ to data centers, and she isn’t writing them a blank check either. She’s saying: if you want to build here, bring something to the table.”
A framework from a governor can offer guidance to state agencies, but it doesn’t carry the weight of law.
The Massachusetts Legislature is working on solutions, tucked into two behemoth energy bills making their way through the House and Senate. The House is proposing that data centers “procure” renewable energy to power at least 80 percent of a data center’s needs. The Senate has proposed putting a pause on growth to buy time to study the best path forward. The chamber is also discussing putting limits on tax breaks for data centers. (The governor halted applications for data center tax incentives in June.)
As with any new and quickly evolving industry, many questions will need to be sorted out.
A key sticking point: What could renewable energy procurement look like? Should data centers be required to physically build solar panels with battery storage, for example? Or, if data centers are relying on renewable power from the grid, how do we ensure this isn’t pushing another customer off of clean energy and onto fossil fuels? Should nuclear energy count as a clean source?
Lawmakers and energy regulators should quibble over the details. But Beacon Hill also needs to prioritize getting some set of rules to the governor’s desk before this legislative session adjourns in January. There’s simply too much hand wringing, fear, and confusion in our communities not to establish a legally binding road map.
If new guidelines are too onerous, data center developers may say no thank you and move onto the next state. That wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
“It’s not a big loss,” Erin Baker, a University of Massachusetts Amherst professor who researches mathematical modeling of energy decisions, told the editorial board. “It’s not super clear to me what value we get from data centers in our community. They don’t have a lot of jobs.”
In the other scenario, if rules for building data centers are too loose or not established, it would be much harder to go in reverse, warns Democratic state Senator Michael Moore of Millbury, who worries the state could someday be left with gigantic white elephant eyesores.
It’s a fair point. The fact is, all technologies become more efficient with time. There’s no reason to expect otherwise with data centers, which should become more efficient and less polluting, and may no longer need vast facilities.
If Massachusetts can establish rigorous standards, not outright bans on data centers, other states will undoubtedly follow suit, as Granholm suggested, and a national or regional standard could be set. That sounds much better than the current race to the bottom between states chasing short-term construction jobs.
If done right, data centers could even become a way to lower our electricity bills. For example, if data centers were required to pay higher costs for the upkeep of transmission lines, that would help the rest of us. Or imagine a data center powered by solar panels with battery storage sending excess electricity back to the grid.
Baker says all this will be tricky to operationalize.
But making data centers work for us is worth trying.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.
