On Tuesday, Maine’s Democratic-controlled state legislature passed a ban on large data centers. It wasn’t exactly close. The state House approved it 79-62 and the Senate approved it 21-13, along party lines with some exceptions. according to the Wall Street Journal. Gov. Janet Mills’ signature is still needed before it becomes law, and the Journal says she has expressed interest in signing such a ban under certain circumstances.
This ban was passed despite (or perhaps because of) relatively low data center activity in Maine. Insider business information maps potential data center construction by tracking permit applications for certain generators, and Maine appears to have only two such projects. However, data center demand increases home energy costsand the Electric Choice website ranks Maine tallest fourth in electricity prices.
Insider also notes that similar legislative efforts have stagnated or failed outright in Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. Many other cities and states We are still considering laws like this.
Maine’s ban has frequently been described as a ban on “large” data centers, but the threshold is 20 megawatts, which is actually quite low, and effectively blocks the construction of what is commonly known as an AI data center. According to the Regional Plan AssociationWhile data centers used about two megawatts of electricity when the data center concept was new, the average contemporary data center uses about 40 megawatts.
The Maine bill imposes a moratorium on construction until November 2027 and also creates a council whose job will be to evaluate the cost of data centers to the people of Maine.
