Rural Data Center Siting & Public Impact Workbench
Midwest county grid demand, aquifer drawdown, electric rate escalation, and tax abatement auditor
Facility SpecificationsZoning & Tech Profile
REGIONAL PRESETS
Facility Name / County
IT Critical Power Demand400 MW
50 MW600 MW1,200 MW
Cooling Architecture
Local County Population38,000 res.
County Grid Substation Headroom180 MW
Property & Equipment Tax Abatement80% (15 yrs)
Capital Expenditure ($ Billions)$4.5 B
Permanent On-site FTE Tech Jobs110 Jobs
ZONING POLICY & MITIGATIONS
Community Backlash
78 / 100
HIGH OPPOSITION
Substantial grid capacity deficit and ratepayer cost-shift risk will drive fierce midterm electoral scrutiny and farmer coalition opposition.
Grid Deficit / Surplus
-220 MW
Requires regional transmission expansion
Est. Residential Bill Shift
+$18.40/mo
+14.2% average household tariff
Peak Water Consumption
1.82 M gal/day
Equiv. to 18,200 rural households
10-Yr Net Public Revenue
+$42.8 M
After $240M tax abatements applied
Resource Consumption BalanceDemand vs Existing Capacity
Electric Power (Facility vs Substation Headroom)222% of capacity
Daily Water Withdrawal vs Safe Aquifer Yield61% of safe buffer
CapEx to Permanent Jobs Ratio$40.9M per permanent FTE
Resource Reality Check: While construction yields ~1,200 short-term trades jobs over 18 months, the ongoing automated facility generates very modest ongoing employment relative to local power and water usage.
10-Year County Fiscal ProjectionsValues in $ Millions
Revenue / Cost Stream
Gross
Abated
County Net
Policy Leverage: Requiring the hyperscaler to fund substation interconnects directly prevents regional grid upgrade charges from rolling into RTO tariff ratebases.
Municipal Ordinance & Ballot Scenarios Analysis
Under current configurations, Cass County taxpayers face substantial transmission upgrade cost allocation while receiving heavily discounted property revenue. Imposing closed-loop liquid cooling standards and a Community Benefits Agreement with local hiring stipulations reduces political fallout by 42 points.