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Massachusetts Requires Large Data Centers to Secure Own New Clean Energy Supply

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Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey imposed new restrictions on data center development in the state, requiring developers of large facilities to secure their own clean energy supplies and obtain local approval before seeking state construction permits.

According to an executive order signed on Tuesday, data center developers who fail to use renewables for their energy needs, will have to pay into a new fund aimed at benefiting the state's ratepayers.

"We can't have data centers coming in and taking energy away from the rest of us," Healey said at a press conference in Boston, according to a Bloomberg report.

With this, Massachusetts joins a growing list of states, including New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, which have either paused or limited new data center development in the face of growing backlash.

The state, however, is the first to require companies to source their own clean energy, with the new rules applicable to data centers with peak electricity demand in excess of 25 megawatts.

The governor has also ordered regulators to use fees, deposits or other requirements to weed out speculative data center projects above 25 MW from utility interconnection queues, in a bid to prioritize supplies for housing and other businesses.

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