"Microsoft is launching a new approach to building AI data centers in America, with five concrete commitments to local communities. The company promises to pay full electricity rates, minimize water consumption, and create local jobs. The approach aims to prevent communities from footing the bill for the AI infrastructure boom. The tech giant calls it the "Community-First AI Infrastructure" initiative, a response to growing concerns about the impact of large-scale data center developments."
"In dozens of US states, household electricity rates have risen, driven in part by inflation and grid upgrades. Communities fear that data centers will strain their energy and water resources without giving anything in return. Microsoft emphasizes that the initiative builds on historical lessons from U.S. infrastructure projects. From canals and railroads to the power grid and highways, every era has brought conflicts over who bears the burdens of progress. "Successful infrastructure buildouts will only progress when communities feel that the gains outweigh the costs,""
Microsoft launched the Community-First AI Infrastructure initiative with five commitments to local communities, aiming to prevent residents from bearing the costs of AI data center growth. The plan promises to pay full electricity rates, minimize water consumption, and create local jobs. Microsoft asks utilities and state commissions to set rates that cover full data center electricity costs and partners with utilities — including a Wyoming deal with Black Hills Energy. Microsoft contracts early for power, finances transmission and substations, and has contracted 7.9 GW of new generation in the MISO network. Microsoft commits to reducing water intensity by 40 percent.
Read at Techzine Global
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