Jefferson County panel reviews draft local rules for data centers, seeks public input

County staff on Tuesday laid out draft local rules the Economic Development Objectives Committee said could be used to regulate large data centers in unincorporated Jefferson County, emphasizing local controls on energy efficiency, infrastructure costs and siting while state regulators and utilities define rates and generation needs.

Mr. Baer, the county presenter, said the package the county is developing focuses on what local government can require: annual and, for larger projects, real-time energy reporting; power-usage-effectiveness (PUE) thresholds that start around 1.4–1.5 in year one and are expected to improve to roughly 1.3 after five years; third-party verification at the owner’s expense; and requirements that tie necessary distribution or substation upgrades to the data-center developer, not the general customer base. "Those facilities tied directly to connecting to the customer would be charged to the data center customer," Baer said, adding the county would pursue enforcement language that places compliance costs…