🌎 Resumen en español · traducción automática
El representante demócrata Morgan McGarvey de Louisville insta a la empresa de servicios eléctricos Louisville Gas and Electric a garantizar que los usuarios residenciales no paguen los costos de infraestructura necesaria para los centros de datos de gran escala, oponiéndose a la construcción de estos centros en la ciudad. McGarvey señala en su carta que las familias trabajadoras no deberían financiar la expansión de energía requerida por estos proyectos y cuestiona si el centro de datos planeado de 1.6 millones de pies cuadrados en West Louisville tendrá prioridad sobre los clientes existentes durante emergencias climáticas. La empresa respondió que ya cuenta con protecciones regulatorias aprobadas por el estado que requieren compromisos a largo plazo y garantizan que los grandes clientes paguen su parte justa.
Traducción y resumen generados por IA a partir del artículo en inglés. Puede contener errores; consulte el texto original.
A server room in a data center. (Photo by Getty Images)
Democratic U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey of Louisville is urging the city’s investor-owned electric utility to ensure that electricity ratepayers don’t bear the costs of hyperscale data centers, saying he’s opposed to data center construction in the city.
McGarvey in a Thursday letter to John Crockett, the president of Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities, referenced the spike in electricity demand across the country spurred by hyperscale data centers in arguing that working families should not be required “to pay for the costs of bringing this much power online.”
“LG&E must ensure that this hyper-scale data construction and the development of infrastructure required to serve it do not increase costs for existing ratepayers,” McGarvey wrote.
McGarvey also referenced the “widespread community opposition” to a planned 1.6 million- square-foot hyperscale data center in West Louisville that the Louisville Planning Commission approved earlier this year.
The state’s lone Democratic congressman asked for the utility to answer a series of questions by the end of August including what new infrastructure the West Louisville data center will need, who would pay for that infrastructure and if the data center will “get priority over existing ratepayers” during extreme heat and weather.
Andrew Gardner, a spokesperson for LG&E and KU, in an emailed statement said the utility has “worked proactively to put customer protections in place as energy demand grows.”
He pointed to the utility’s state-regulator-approved rules and rates designed to serve large electricity customers including data centers, saying those rules require “long-term commitments and financial requirements” to ensure those customers “pay their fair share”.
“We remain committed to maintaining the reliable service our customers depend on every day. Our role is to plan responsibly for Kentucky’s energy future, support economic development opportunities that create jobs and investment in our communities, and do so in a manner that is fair to all customers,” Gardner said.
Gardner said LG&E and KU planned to respond to McGarvey’s questions directly.
Louisville Public Media reported McGarvey also attended a public forum on data centers in Louisville Wednesday evening with Democratic state lawmakers. At that forum, he said he was also opposed to hyperscale data center construction throughout the state. Louisville Metro Council is taking public comments through Friday on a proposed ordinance to regulate large data centers.
