Data Centers

Secret meetings, messy voting procedures, and an undisclosed project beneficiary: transparency concerns about a controversial artificial intelligence data center project in Western Palm Beach County unnerved opponents. A look back at the land's complicated history tells where the trust gap came from.

Orange County is on track to join the growing list of Florida counties and municipalities hitting the brakes on water- and power-guzzling AI data centers.

Grassroots opposition to AI infrastructure because of its huge demand on local water supplies and the electrical grid had been growing more pointed since early this year, turning into an issue David Jolly and the Florida Democratic Party are using to attack Republican Byron Donalds in the Florida gubernatorial race.

North Port officials moved to join elected leaders in Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties who have put new data center proposals on hold in recent months, as packed crowds have rallied against such projects sweeping across Florida.

The case before Florida's Public Service Commission is weighing whether Duke Energy plans to do enough to shield customers from the costs of data centers, including one planned for Fort Meade.

Consumer advocates say residential ratepayers could see their bills go up substantially, while Duke says shareholders — and not customers — would pay up if a massive data facility were unable to pay its serving costs.

Manatee's Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of a data center moratorium at a July 28 meeting. The move also directs county staff to potentially revise their land development code.

The 4-3 vote pauses new applications while the city develops rules for data centers and other exceptionally large utility customers.

Earlier this month, Palm Beach County commissioners voted 5-1 to slam the brakes on the controversial Project Tango AI data center proposal – but tech companies aren't backing away, and more proposals for large-scale data center projects are likely to follow. Experts say the latest vote was a cautionary tale.

As it stands, DeSoto County does not have local regulations for data centers. The moratorium will allow the county to consider regulatory measures before accepting future data center applications.

But he backs moves by cities and states to regulate large-scale data centers to protect their water supply and keep electricity bills from going up further.

Lakeland Electric and water utility officials provided more information to commissioners at the July 20 city commission meeting.