Boulder County proposes 75-kilowatt cap to block data centers

Boulder County is preparing to enact a rule that would effectively stop the construction of large data centers within its borders. The county commissioners will vote Tuesday on a draft regulation from Community Planning and Permitting. The proposed rule caps the peak power demand for any new data center at 75 kilowatts.

This limit places the energy requirement for a new data center at a level comparable to a single marijuana growing operation. For context, a data center currently under debate in Colorado Springs may draw up to 50 megawatts. That is equivalent to 50,000 kilowatts. Larimer County commissioners are scheduled to vote in January on a limit of 30 megawatts, or 30,000 kilowatts. A kilowatt measures the peak demand a power user needs at a specific moment, while a kilowatt-hour measures the total energy used over time.

Planning staff told the Planning Commission that the 75 kilowatt threshold means standalone data centers will not be built in the county. A small setup consisting of just a couple of racks of stacked computing servers would consume the entire 75 kilowatt allowance. By comparison, the large facilities debated in other regions use thousands of racks spread over hundreds of thousands of square feet.

The county currently has a moratorium on new data centers while it finalizes zoning rules and operating conditions. Staff noted that when commissioners voted for the moratorium in January, many public speakers expressed support for prohibiting these uses. One email included in the board packet from Jaimie Epstein argued against the construction. Epstein, whose email signature reads “get daily moon wisdom here!,” wrote that the county lacks water and power to share. She stated that the rush to build data centers risks creating a bubble similar to the one that caused the 2008 financial crisis.

County leaders appear aligned with this public sentiment. They asked rule drafters to account for high electricity demands, water usage, noise disturbances, and the industrial aesthetic of these facilities. Local leaders across the country are responding to public anger over data center growth and the artificial intelligence systems that require them. The Associated Press reported that candidates for governor and Congress in multiple states who spoke out against data centers won their elections last week. Data Center Watch, a project of AI security consultancy 10a Labs, found that the vast majority of winning candidates supported stronger regulation or a moratorium.

Planners for the city of Boulder noted a tension between the new limits and local economic growth. Boulder has thrived on tech businesses, including Google and various startups. These companies often require extensive data processing and expanded computing power. Senior planner Ethan Abner explained that staff researched the 75 kilowatt limit to accommodate internal computing needs within existing businesses. He told the Planning Commission that in theory, such use should be allowed as long as it is not the principal use of the business.

The draft rules create a new land use definition for data centers and restrict them to existing light industrial and general industrial zoning districts. Some commission members expressed concern that the draft does not fully address edge cases. One commissioner asked if a new business moving into an existing building and installing three racks of servers would be permitted if it was not classified as a data center. Abner acknowledged that these were fair questions and that the current draft lacks detail in these areas.

The county commissioners will hold a hybrid in-person and online meeting on Tuesday. The session begins at 1 p.m. and includes a public comment period. Staff expect more questions regarding the legality of setting power limits for data centers without applying the same standards to all new industries with heavy energy needs.