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Tech leaders tell panel states should boost generation, speed permitting to attract data centers
Summary
Panelists said abundant power, cooling, fast permitting and local labor make states attractive to major data centers. Witnesses urged expanding generation—short‑term natural gas, solar where suitable, and advanced nuclear/fusion over time—and described corporate investments to upgrade grids so neighbors don’t shoulder costs.
Panelists answering questions from an unidentified questioner said states that want large data centers should prioritize power, cooling, permitting speed and workforce readiness.
"Power, cooling, fast permitting process, [and] labor force that can build these things," said Mister Altman, listing the practical site features that attract projects he referenced as "Stargate." He said states that partner to move quickly are most appealing and suggested studying Texas’s approach.
Why it matters: data centers for advanced artificial‑intelligence workloads require large, steady power supplies. That demand has prompted debate about how to expand generation without shifting costs to residential ratepayers.
Mister Altman said the clearest protection for consumers is more generation. "If you make it easy to reasonably profitably create a lot of additional generative capacity, the market will do that," he said, and added that cheaper energy generally raises quality of life. He suggested natural gas as a short‑term option, solar in some applications, and "advanced nuclear, fission and fusion" in the medium term.
Mister Smith described how technology companies can directly invest in grid upgrades. He described a recent site in southeastern Wisconsin where the company became the largest industrial user—about 400 megawatts—and worked with the local utility to expand generation and transmission. "We went to the Public Utilities Commission and we proposed a rate increase on ourselves…so that the neighbors, so to speak, would not have to," he said, framing the move as collaborative capital investment to avoid transferring costs to surrounding customers.
The panel’s answers emphasized public‑private collaboration: corporate capital and utility planning to expand generation and transmission capacity, paired with permitting reforms and workforce development. No formal legislative action or vote was recorded during this exchange.
The hearing next moved to questions about AI applications for small businesses and then concluded when the questioner yielded time to the chair.
