Council hears why hyperscale centers need large substations or on‑site power

At the work session, developer Jim Conland explained that the defining constraint for hyperscale data centers is electricity. He said that facilities at the 350‑megawatt scale or larger must either be sited near "a very large substation" or include substantial on‑site generation. "The only place you can put a hyperscale data center is relatively close to a very large substation," Conland said, describing the Salem substation near the airport as an example of the kind of infrastructure required.