Minnesota utility regulators will require Amazon Data Services to prove the need for up to 600 megawatts of diesel generators that will backup power supplies at a new data center.
With a 4-0 vote Friday, the state Public Utilities Commission denied the technology giant’s request to be exempt from obtaining a certificate of need for 250 emergency diesel generators that would provide backup power for the Becker, Minnesota, data center.
The question before the PUC is among the unprecedented policy issues facing regulators nationwide in the face of proposals for billions of dollars of new infrastructure to enable development of sprawling data centers by tech companies.
The requirement for a certificate of need — a question also at issue before the state Legislature — opens for debate both the amount of backup power needed for data centers in Minnesota as well as the type. Current state law requires developers of power plants that don’t use renewable energy to prove that cheaper, cleaner alternatives don’t exist.
