Data center community information session held
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MARQUETTE -- The Lake Superior Community Partnership Thursday night hosted a community data center information session at Peter White Public Library in Marquette, for the purpose of educating the public on facts and potential concerns and benefits of data centers.
Featured speakers included Dakota Baker, director of the Northern Michigan Chamber Alliance, Jeff Guilfoyle of Public Sector Consultants and Ron Akers, Municipal Services director of Van Buren Township.
"We like to come together for topics such as this when there's topics that are really important to the community," said Lake Superior Community Partnership CEO Natalie Chmiko. "…Today's conversation is meant to be ... just informational for all of you in the room."
The evening's first speaker, Baker, said that his presentation was created "to educate our communities about what these projects are, what the details are, what are the real risks, what's sort of the good the bad and the ugly."
Baker spoke about the different sizes of data centers -- from edge/micro centers housed inside pre-existing buildings for use by individual companies, municipalities or universities for data storage, to huge hyperscale data centers that can take up over 100 acres. He also spoke about how the demand for data centers is growing largely due to the growth in artificial intelligence technology.
"The objective tonight is not to persuade you guys to like data centers or to persuade you guys to hate data centers," said Baker. "We're just trying to give you factual information, so you can make the best decision for your community and the surrounding communities."
Baker also spoke about the potential benefits and drawbacks of data centers, from subsidized infrastructure costs and community benefit agreements to water overuse and power grid strain.
The Northern Michigan Chamber Alliance's full presentation is available at https://nmchamberalliance.com/news/data-centers-101-a-primer-for-state-local-government-officials/.
Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.