MIDA says closed-loop cooling and on-site generation will limit water and grid impacts

Commissioners and members of the public pressed MIDA on water and power. Hillary Venable and technical representative Austin Pritchett said data centers would use closed-loop cooling that reuses water and that the campus is designed to generate its own energy on-site. "The data centers are expected to use closed loop cooling systems... the long term water demand is expected to be closer to what you would see from a large office campus, not a traditional industrial use," Venable said.

Austin Pritchett added the project has on-site rights and contractual water reserves: "So we have on-site, we've got about 3,000 acre feet that we're purchasing. Up the road, we've got other acre feet, about 10,000 acre feet in up in Snowville that we have under contract if needed." MIDA said air-cooling and emerging zero-water technologies are in use and that state permitting will regulate air and water quality. Commissioners requested environmental and hydrological studies; MIDA said impact studies and state permits are pending and will be part of the master plan.