LETTER: If grid is not ready, will data center run on polluting gas?

To Ozaukee Press:

On Aug. 6, the Public Service Commission revoked the application for the high-voltage transmission lines meant to power the Vantage data centers, sending the American Transmission Co. back to the starting line. The PSC deserves credit for following Wisconsin law and refusing to let Vantage’s construction timeline drive the process.

But the decision raises a hard question. If Vantage finishes the data center before it can connect to the grid, will it power the campus with on-site methane gas turbines?

Vantage’s record makes the question worth asking. In 2023, when Dominion

Energy could not connect the Vantage data center in Sterling, Virginia, on the timeline they wanted, Vantage built eight methane gas turbines on site. Those turbines now supply the facility’s primary power. 

Meanwhile in Texas, Vantage, and its power partner VoltaGrid, began building on-site gas plants without required preconstruction permits.

As a nurse practitioner, I am concerned about the health impacts that would come from operating gas-fired turbines at the Vantage campus. Methane gas turbines emit formaldehyde, fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and smog-forming nitrogen oxides.

Ozaukee County already violates the federal ozone standard, which means our air is officially unhealthy to breathe. More gas turbines would worsen the problem and add to the burden of asthma, heart disease and stroke.

Portable methane gas turbines are typically less efficient than combined cycle power plants and can be extremely loud. The air quality and noise impacts would be another blow for local residents who have already suffered through many painful months of dust, traffic, noise and stress.

Wisconsin law would not stand in the way of this happening. Contrary to a letter to the editor published in Ozaukee Press on Aug. 5, non-utilities can build and operate their own generating equipment in this state, subject to applicable permits and regulations. 

Port Washington officials have said there will be no on-site generation at the Vantage campus. That is reassuring, but it is a promise that could be tested if the data center is finished before the transmission

line is built. 

Now is the time for local and state officials to secure a public, binding commitment from Vantage that it will not install or operate gas-fired generation at its Port Washington campus. The community is watching.

Carri Prom

Saukville