Power-gobbling proposed data centers raise concerns

BELLEVUE, Wash. - More than two dozen ''server farms'' - data centers that handle the traffic of the Internet - are planned for the Seattle area, another sign of the region's high-tech boom and prosperity.

But there's a price: collectively, the farms will need nearly as much electricity as the entire city of Seattle, at a time when the Northwest already faces nearly a 1-in-4 chance of winter power outages.

''This is just a massive load that was unforeseen by anybody,'' said Steve Secrest, director of rates and regulations for Puget Sound Energy, the Bellevue-based utility that provides electricity to much of Western Washington.

It takes 1,200 megawatts to keep things humming in Seattle, which has its own public utility. Each server farm requires 30 megawatts to 50 megawatts. By comparison, it takes about 30 megawatts to power the entire University of Washington.

The Northwest Power Planning Council, which tries to balance wildlife and fish protection with power generation needs in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, had been worried about the region's generating capacity even without the server farms.

Based on a study completed last March, the power predicted a 24 percent chance of winter outages in the four-state area by 2003.

''The concept of server farms wasn't on the horizon (then) ... so we didn't include it,'' council spokesman John Harrison told the Eastside Journal, which reported on the issue Tuesday.

Even without them, the study concluded there is a need for the ''equivalent of 3,000 megawatts'' in new generating capacity to ensure no more than a 5 percent chance of blackouts for the region, a power-industry standard.

Capacity to meet that forecast can't be developed in time, Harrison said. The only new generating plants scheduled to come on line by 2003 are two natural gas-powered plants, together producing 600 megawatts of power a day, he said.

''We would still have a 2,400-megawatt problem,'' Harrison said.

Server farms are ''definitely a concern, and whether this is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back is a good question,'' said Tony Usibelli, a senior energy policy specialist with the state Community Trade and Economic Development Department.

There is no regulatory mechanism that would allow Seattle City Light or Puget Sound Energy to just say no to the server farms. Utilities have an ''obligation to serve,'' Usibelli said.

It is unclear now whether all of the prospective server farms will be built, but 24 - needing a total of 700 megawatts a day - are proposed for Puget Sound Energy territory, Secrest said.

Meanwhile, Seattle City Light has received requests for a total of 125 megawatts of power a day from three Internet server-farm companies - and inquiries about the possibility of four more server farms that need 275 megawatts, utility spokesman Dan Williams said.

The needs of the 31 new server farms would represent a 10 percent jump in growth for the two utilities, whose increases average 1 percent to 2 percent a year.

It isn't just a question of flipping a switch.

Transmission lines, transformers and substations supplying power to the server farms would have to be upgraded, Secrest said.

''Our plan is to make sure we don't do anything where other customers subsidize (the improvements) or face rate increases,'' Secrest said.

PSE is preparing to ask the state Utilities and Transportation Commission to require Internet server farms to cover infrastructure costs, which would run in the tens of millions of dollars.

The Seattle City Council, which oversees City Light, voted in October to pass such costs on to ''large load'' customers.

The utilities can't afford to risk getting stuck if the server-farm companies later fold up shop and leave, City Light spokesman Bob Kluge said.

Timing will determine just how big a problem is posed by the proposed data centers and their voracious energy appetites.

The worst case would be if they all came on line simultaneously, said Hank McIntosh, a regulatory consultant for the state utilities commission. The load will be easier to accommodate if they come on line gradually, perhaps over a few years.

At least a half-dozen private companies hope to build gas-fueled electric power generators, said Liz Klump, a senior energy policy specialist with the Community Trade and Economic Development Department.

If all are built, the additional capacity would more than offset the data centers' power demands, but the centers can be built much faster than generating plants, she said.

Harrison said putting together a gas-powered, 250-megawatt-capacity generating station can take about five years, including site selection, licensing and permitting, and then two years for actual construction. Smaller ones might take less time, he said.