Many things in life easily get attention: babies, LeBron James, the prom queen, and any movie involving Tom Cruise. However, data centers may have them all beat.
On the agenda for Tuesday night’s city council meeting is the second reading for an ordinance that would ban hyperscale data centers. The newest language of the bill includes three amendments proposed in the May 19 meeting by councilmembers Jake Marsing and Matthew Popkin.
Marsing’s amendments:
Determining peak electrical demand from data centers will rely on information provided by the company and be verified by Longmont Power & Communications.
Future expansions to data centers cannot meet or exceed 100 megawatts of projected peak electrical demand
Popkin’s amendment:
Revise the definition of “hyperscale facility” to be a data center that has a projected peak electrical demand of no greater than 5% of Platte River Power Authority’s nameplate capacity, or 100 MW, whichever is lower, whether at initial operation or through expansion.
It effectively slashes data center power consumption to 70 MW (enough to power 35,000 homes).
The public will get the opportunity to speak on the issue before any votes are made.
Predicting an outcome…
The bill has real momentum as most of city council, save for Councilmember Diane Crist, supports the ban. Crist believes sufficient guardrails already exist but other councilmembers remain steadfast that more are needed.
Based on past indicators and the tenor from previous meetings, The Longmont Brief predicts this ordinance will pass tomorrow night. We suggest the odds be placed at -250 but DraftKings hasn’t accepted our request for an official listing yet.
The action begins at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center. You can also follow along via livestream here.