New bill to regulate data centers backed by Colorado environmental groups
A coalition of Colorado progressive and environmental groups are backing new legislation to more strictly regulate large data centers, countering an industry-endorsed bill that would pair a handful of safeguards with tax breaks to incentivize development.
The centerpiece of Senate Bill 26-102, introduced this week by Democrats Sen. Cathy Kipp of Fort Collins and Rep. Kyle Brown of Louisville, is an “hourly matching requirement” mandating that data center operators generate or purchase renewable electricity to meet their annual power consumption, starting in 2031. The bill proposes the requirement be set at 100%, though it gives leeway to the state’s Public Utilities Commission to determine the “highest percentage … that is technically and economically feasible.”
Kipp said in a press release Wednesday,
Colorado is already home to large data centers, and many more developers want to build here,
“Without some basic protections in place, these projects place too much risk on the shoulders of Colorado families and small businesses. Our bill ensures that won’t happen.”
Amid a nationwide boom in data center construction, largely driven by investment in AI, polling shows a growing number of Americans concerned about the energy-intensive facilities’ impact on the environment, and what the surging demand for energy could do to utility rates paid by consumers.
Electricity demand in Colorado, like most states, remained relatively flat between 2000 and 2020, with population and economic growth offset by gains in efficiency. But Xcel Energy, the state’s largest electric utility, told the PUC last year that it expects demand to increase by nearly 20% between 2024 and 2031, with two-thirds of the new demand coming from data centers.
In a letter to Gov. Jared Polis and state lawmakers this month, 54 Colorado environmental and social justice groups, including Conservation Colorado, GreenLatinos and the Bell Policy Center, urged policymakers to “act now to ensure that Big Tech pays its fair share and avoids harming Coloradans.”
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New bill to regulate data centers backed by Colorado environmental groups, source
