Though the City of Ames continues to review a proposal for data center on the south side of town, two small data centers have called the area home for years.
Des Moines-based Lightedge is interested in building a 100,000-square-foot building at the James Herman Banning Ames Municipal Airport.
The city council held a listening session on June 30 as hundreds of residents shared their displeasure for a new data center.
But, Ames is currently home to a few data centers. A 15,500-sqaure foot facility sits behind the Red Lobster on Duff Avenue and is on the market at a $4 million price tag. The building on Buckeye Avenue is owned by Employers Mutual Casualty (EMC), a commercial property and casualty insurance company, according to Datacenterdynamics.com.
The other data center, home to Global Reach Internet Productions, is in the Iowa State University Research Park, inside a building along with other offices.
How much energy do Ames’ data centers use?
The two data centers in Ames are “extremely small” and use about the same amount of energy a gas station would, Ames Electric Services Director Don Kom said.
“When people say data center, they think of 300 acres, six buildings, major power lines and stuff like that,” Kom said. “And there are some out there like that. There are other ones that people have in their basement. It’s just so hard to use the term data center and all mean the same thing.”
Each facility has been in town for at least five years, Kom said. They are a “small scope of the big stuff” that is often talked about, and likely are used for data storage.
“I think at the time they were probably created, the word ‘data center’ may not even have existed,” Kom said. “They’ve been good customers and we serve them just like we serve any other customer.”
What type of data center does Lightedge want to build?
Lightedge says its project is a “co-location” data center. Businesses will be able to rent space to house servers and IT equipment inside a third-party facility.
“This is not a hyperscaler data center; this is not an AI data center,” Lightedge Chief Marketing Officer Matt Biegacki said during an Ames City Council meeting on June 23. “This is a relatively new focus area for a lot of folks, and I think it’s being perpetuated primarily by the fast rise of AI. There’s no way to have a data center conversation without getting into an AI conversation.”
A full project buildout from Lightedge would use 25 megawatts.
Who are the biggest energy consumers in Ames?
Amcor, a global packaging manufacturer, on Bell Ave. off Dayton in northeast Ames, is the largest electric consumer in town, Kom said. Iowa State University has a higher peak demand of 11 megawatts while Amcor’s peak is around nine megawatts. However, Amcor uses about 10-15% more energy than Iowa State.
Other large consumers include Danfoss Power Solutions, 3M and Mary Greeley Medical Center.
Ames continues to review Lightedge’s data center proposal
An online petition, “Data Build Data Centers in Ames,” has garnered more than 4,200 signatures opposing the proposal, while a Facebook group, “Ames VS Data Centers,” has 274 members.
The Ames City Council will consider a memo from the Ames City Attorney outlining limitations that can be placed on data centers at its 6 p.m. meeting on June 15, at Ames City Hall. There will be no public input on the item during the council meeting.
Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at CBrocker@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ames is home to 2 ‘small’ data centers. How much energy do they use?
Reporting by Celia Brocker, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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By Celia Brocker, Ames Tribune | USA TODAY Network
