Hobbs wants Arizona to have enough energy to attract data centers

PHOENIX – Gov. Katie Hobbs wants Arizona to do more both to build more energy sources and curtail state electricity use, with at least one goal to ensure the state can attract more data centers and other large power users.

But the governor on Monday sidestepped questions about why Arizona would seek to locate data centers here, not just because of the demand on the electric grid but because of the massive amounts of water it takes to cool them.

And there’s a lot of water involved.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute says even medium-sized data centers can use up to about 110 million gallons of water a year for cooling purposes, equivalent to what would serve 1,000 households. And larger centers can consume 1.8 billion gallons a year, enough to supply a town of up to 50,000.

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