Data Center Coalition official urges measured rules, touts economic and grid solutions

Brad Tits, state policy director for the Data Center Coalition, told the Champaign County task force that data‑center projects are diverse and that local officials should tailor requirements to the type of facility under review.

“We see hyperscalers, collocation or multi‑tenant centers, and edge facilities — they are not all the same,” Tits said. He urged officials to ask prospective developers what type of facility and workloads they intend to host because that determines power, cooling and siting needs.

Tits described industry trends and argued the sector has both incentives and tools to address resource concerns: - Types of facilities: hyperscale centers (single large operator), collocation (multiple tenants providing services to hospitals, banks and governments) and edge facilities (smaller, lower‑latency sites). - Economic contribution: national and regional studies cited by Tits said the broader data‑center ecosystem supports jobs and generates significant property and local tax revenue; Tits said Illinois has seen billions in economic impact from the industry. - Energy and grid: Tits highlighted that many data‑center operators are executing renewable offtake contracts (PPAs) and behind‑the‑meter investments; he also described large‑load tariffs, transmission security agreements (TSAs) that can fund transmission upgrades, and voluntary “bring your own generation” proposals at regional transmission organizations to speed interconnection. - Water: Tits argued not all data centers use water, noted a range of cooling technologies (air, closed‑loop liquid, evaporative and immersion cooling), and recommended that local policy avoid technology‑specific bans in favor of performance standards because cooling technology evolves quickly.

In Q&A, task force members raised questions about large‑load tariffs and who bears infrastructure costs; Tits explained typical utility practices (large deposit and minimum demand charges) and cited recent transmission security agreements that he said have directed billions to grid upgrades. He acknowledged that some proposed projects are speculative and may not be built unless they secure committed end users, and cautioned that interconnection queue filings can overstate likely load growth.

Tits also addressed water‑use figures and noted industry studies showing data centers are small relative to other industrial water users nationally, while accepting that local water stresses and cooling choices matter for siting decisions. He urged county staff to coordinate with state water and energy planning efforts and to focus on measurable, enforceable local standards.

Why it matters: The industry representative framed tradeoffs officials must weigh — potential local economic gains and infrastructure investment versus resident concerns about noise, water and rates — and advocated for county rules that are flexible across technologies and calibrated to the kind of facility proposed. Task force members said they want drafts that incorporate both safety‑oriented limits (noise, vibration, water efficiency) and enforceable remedies.

Provenance: Brad Tits’ presentation and Q&A ran roughly between SEG 1600 and SEG 2107.