North Dakota is in the news today, being congratulated for it’s business friendly climate. If only …
Applied Digital plans to break ground in September on what it calls Polaris Forge 2, a 280-megawatt artificial intelligence computing center.
The plan calls for two facilities with room for expansion. Applied Digital has contracted more than 900 acres for its campus and secured power through Cass County Electric Cooperative, a member-owned nonprofit. The data center is expected to employ more than 200 full-time workers plus long-term contractors.
and..
Applied Digital said in a news release that it is expanding in North Dakota because the state has abundant energy, available land and a pro-business climate.
If South Dakota could focus on an business climate, maybe we could get the tax relief that so many who are running for office want – and it could come through GROWTH. Instead of the NIMBY-ism that seems to have afflicted too many who want to be in charge..
Luckily, there are still some real Republicans left who champion growth. But we need more of them. For all our sakes.
It means that businesses in the area will experience severe labor shortages. Especially strong effects because of Trump/ICE
That’s some wacko analysis Jack…
The so-called “constitutional conservatives” of the far right claim they’re saving us, but in truth, they’re torpedoing us straight for squalor.
Yabbut the REAL problem is the dems — right?
It is very surprising that with Toby Doeden’s podcast “Unhinged” where he and at times his son were nearly every episode promoting Bitcoin owning a Bitcoin Mine in Aberdeen that the Doedites are against Data Centers. Former Doedites now Lemmings plus long time Lemmings oppose them too labeling them Satan Centers.
To heck with the NIMBY straw man argument. It’s cost benefit analysis and tax revenue-shifting analysis.
The data centers want no sales tax and direct subsidies for construction and infrastructure development. How much will that cost?
On the flip side the counties and school districts where these centers locate would receive property taxes and new jobs. How much revenue is that?
On still the other side, who will pay for the infrastructure to absorb all of these new jobs in the rural communities that currently do not have housing to accommodate?
Will that growth pay for itself or will existing taxpayers essentially pay the tab for the data center to locate here? That’s the tax revenue shifting analysis part.
Still on the other side of this are concerns about water consumption and upward pressure on rural water rates and future availability of the water and electrical rates. What are these long term capital outlay costs?
The Econ Dev people need to show the numbers how this nets out so the public can ascertain whether the growth pays for itself. You would think they would push the numbers out ASAP to prove that this pays for itself and the growth will not create new costs for existing taxpayers.
In other words, we don’t want no darn development here. There can be problems with growth and we don’t want any part of any problems.
Toby Dieden doesn’t like “substadizing” anything. Yet he loves “substadization” when it benefits his own pocket book.
1 – They don’t want direct subsidies for construction. And they’ll pay sales tax. They just want the electronics in the facilities exempt from sales tax (which 36 do). The main reason is that the electronic are replaced every 3-5 years and that’s a massive capital expense. Other than that, they are not asking for anything.
2 – Applied Digital will be a top 5 property taxpayer in the State of ND within a few years. One of these facilities in a rural county would be a boon for their property tax base. This is the kind of growth that reduces property tax pressure on homeowners.
3 – Companies like Applied Digital pay for nearly all of the infrastructure needed. Applied is paying for 30 new houses in Ellendale, ND. They helped reopen the local bowling alley and helped pay for the new pickleball courts in town.
4- Most new data centers use closed loop cooling systems to limit their water consumption. That’s your own straw man.
5 – For this new facility in Harwood, the local electric coop has already said they do not need any additional infrastructure to accommodate this facility and that it will not impact rates.
First off I support these data centers, but I want to point out. If they don’t pay sales tax on hardware, and there is no sales tax on labor…..how again are they paying a lot of sales tax? Otherwise, all other points are accurate to the best of my knowledge. They use glycol for cooling and electricity rates will not increase anymore than Trump is doing right now.
We’re all going to be Amish.
Yes, we need data centers to drive our retail electrical prices up b/c the Cons haven’t figured out a way to screw us on that one yet.
Data Centers + Closed Looped Cooling + Wind Turbines = smart(ish)
Data Centers + Ground Water + Coal/Gas = MAGA.
The jobs thing is total BS though. Obviously none of you rubes have ever worked in or around a data center.
This is a bit different than your typical data center. Most will employee a dozen or two people. This one will be quite a bit more. Yes, I have worked in a data center and I currently run one for an internal org. No, your rates won’t go up unless the Repubs decide to hand out sweetheart deals. Trump is working on screwing you on that as energy rates are set to skyrocket. All economic indicators are not looking good for the working class but we have been trying to tell MAGA that for a while.
If we were smart, we’d move up-stream of that project and write the software that runs in said datacenters.
Are we?
Smart?
Your dumb. AI writes its own software. We don’t need coders anymore.
You obviously know very little about software.
anonymous 9:56PM is correct. the data centers will have some staffing for tech maintenance and janitorial and what not – but the many businesses and corporations using the data centers are greatly engaged in bringing a-i into thee workplace with the goal of significant downsizing of the real paycheck-earning human staff. a-i does write its own software, it does learn and grow itself in ways the builders don’t even understand yet. maybe those of us who haven’t seen it should binge “person of interest,” the old cbs series about a-i. we are at the precipice of having this kind of a-i spy looking over our shoulders at all times.
It’s vaporware.
AI doesn’t write production code that isn’t reviewed by an engineer.
And the code it writes is all derivative.
It’s designs are also .. not good.
“By humans for humans”.
AI is not going to persist in many of the “jobs” it’s taking over.
The goal is to continue abuse of American IT workers, who should have ascended up to the leadership ladder already.
It’s a travesty that our leaders know so very little about technology.
Like a hot foreman who’s never used a lathe.
We aren’t in the energy business. We dont have a Powder River basin, or a Bakken formation under us.
Wyoming is the #1 energy exporting state, North Dakota is #2.
South Dakota is not in the top 10.
It’s not particularly difficult to understand why these data centers are being built where they are.
We don’t have a lot of people and a glut of power. Not to mention, it is geographically beneficial from an energy savings standpoint with our cold winters. SD would be no different than ND or WY. We buy and sell power on the same markets. Production volumes have little to do with cost in such a market due to long range transmission. Might get interesting with wheeling losses, but no one is selling cheap energy locally if they can sell it for more elsewhere.
No data centers
No pipelines
No economic development
Shoot down passenger planes
No private gain until it benefits us
The new SDGOP.
The jig’s up man.
No more gaslighting.
AMERICA FIRST.
How do data centers compare to these huge dairies being built? I just heard of a 21,000 head dairy built between De Smet and Huron. Do the dairies get any tax incentives to build in SD? Do they require any added infrastructure? How do they impact local economies, workforce, housing, etc? How are data centers different?
From an energy standpoint, many of these dairies are producing their own power through RNG. I bet the dairies are using a ton of water, especially with the high temps. There are definitely pros and cons to both and I think they probably are pretty even across the board. I would bet most opposition is due to ignorance and the inability to change. Building the big fancy dairies is not a problem, but building the facility that is essentially running the dairy is a problem……because they don’t understand technology or progress outside of their rural, uneducated bubble.