Metro Nashville Council will contemplate data center regulations at its upcoming meeting.
The council will meet on Wednesday to determine the fate of three bill proposals surrounding data centers: bills 1391, 1392, and 1448.
Bill 1391 would add data center-related definitions to Metro law.
The bill defines a data center as a building or facility that is “primarily used for housing and operating computer systems and associated equipment, including servers, data storage and processing systems, and accessory infrastructure such as cooling systems, power generators, electrical substations, and network hardware.”
Furthermore, the bill defines what would be considered a small, medium, and large data center.
Small data centers are defined as data centers that use less than 20,000 square feet and a maximum capacity of five megawatts of electricity.
Medium data centers are considered anything bigger than 20,000 square feet and less than 100,000 square feet, as well as using no more than 20 megawatts of electricity.
Large data centers are defined as data centers over 100,000 square feet, but not bigger than 500,000 square feet, and they have a maximum capacity of 100 megawatts of electricity.
The bill also defines data center campuses as buildings larger than 500,000 square feet and using more than 100 megawatts of electricity.
The bill imposes specific restrictions on where these data centers can be located in Davidson County.
It requires data centers in Davidson County to use a closed-loop cooling system.
The bill mandates data center developers obtain written confirmation from Nashville Electric Service that the utility company has the capacity to serve a data center.
Bill 1392 would restrict the type of material that is allowed to build data centers in Davidson County. Data centers facing a “public right-of-way or a parcel zoned a non-industrial
zoning district shall be constructed of brick, brick veneer, stone, cast stone, cementitious
siding, glass, or materials substantially similar in form and function.”
Bill 1448 would issue a temporary moratorium on new data center development in Davidson County. The current bill has the ban lasting until November 1st, but Council Member Courtney Johnston (District 26) requested an amendment to move it back to December 1st.
If Metro Council enacts these new laws surrounding data centers, it would join a growing group of Tennessee local governments taking action against them.
Knox County, Coffee County, Hawkins County and the cities of Knoxville and St. Joseph have all implemented temporary moratoria on data centers.
Other local governments contemplating temporary bans on data centers include Wilson County and Hamilton County.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at [email protected].
