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Data-center surge strains local power capacity, industry speakers warn
Summary
Industry presenters at the Hoffman Estates CRE breakfast said large-scale data centers demand power on the scale of small cities, warned that local grid capacity (ComEd) will constrain new campuses, and noted AI-driven growth and billions in planned investment near Bell Works.
Bill Shanahan, a data-center industry presenter, told attendees at the Hoffman Estates commercial real estate breakfast that modern data campuses require electricity on a scale few residents appreciate and that regional power availability, not land, is the principal constraint on new development. "One data center that's 48 megawatts is the equivalent to a small city of 43,000 homes," Shanahan said, describing a 48 MW building consuming roughly 35 million kilowatt-hours per month and explaining that building multiple such facilities quickly exceeds local power capacity.
Why it matters: Hoffman Estates is seeing major corporate…
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