San Antonio leaders are open to extra knowledge facilities, however say they need new guidelines for the businesses that construct them.
San Antonio Metropolis Council members say there must be new zoning rules and discussions with native utilities round sources and infrastructure availability — significantly for recycled water.
The dialogue, which took up a lot of a Wednesday Metropolis Council B Session, got here after Councilman Ric Galvan (D6) filed a request to have a look at knowledge heart improvement and useful resource use in San Antonio.
“[I’m] very grateful to all of the residents in District 6 who’ve shared their enter on this subject, who’ve shared their private suggestions in dwelling close to the very best focus of knowledge facilities in our metropolis,” Galvan stated.
Council member concepts ranged from neighborhood profit agreements with knowledge facilities to encouraging them to carry tech jobs to asking knowledge heart builders to share backup energy with native neighborhoods throughout energy outages.
Galvan targeted on the concept of updating San Antonio’s Unified Growth Code, or UDC, and categorizing knowledge facilities as normal industrial. Amin Tohmaz, the town’s improvement providers director, stated present zoning regulation doesn’t have any guidelines particularly for knowledge facilities.
The UDC is often amended each 5 years. The following replace is scheduled for 2027, however Galvan and a number of council members, together with Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, pushed for earlier amendments for knowledge facilities. However Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran (D3) wished to carry off on amendments till 2027.
Councilman Marc Whyte (D10) targeted on potential for knowledge facilities bringing jobs and more cash in property taxes to the world.
“The businesses which can be placing these knowledge facilities all throughout the nation will foot the invoice to be right here. They’re keen to pay a lot of the infrastructure value to get established,” he stated, including that there needs to be buffers between knowledge facilities and neighborhoods.
Tohmaz stated updating the UDC may enable the town to order knowledge facilities to be a minimum of 1,000 ft from residences, parks or different land makes use of the town deems incompatible.
‘Massive load’ prospects are anticipated to develop
“We see the info facilities in San Antonio as each a threat and a chance,” stated Donovan Burton, senior vice chairman of water sources and governmental relations for San Antonio Water System.
Officers on the publicly owned utility methods acknowledged that whereas knowledge facilities depend on a major quantity of water and electrical energy, they will additionally drive revenues to assist fund the methods utilized by San Antonio residents.
Native utilities are legally required to work with knowledge facilities if they’re paying prospects, stated CPS Vitality’s Chief Technique Officer Elaina Ball.
The utility at present supplies energy to 21 knowledge facilities within the space, she stated. These contracts generate $110 million in income.
These contracts are written in order that they’re paid sufficient to recuperate the price of offering electrical energy to these knowledge heart prospects, Ball added. Included clawback clauses may assist recuperate cash as much as a decade after building.
Ball reported that there are 59 future initiatives in numerous levels of planning. Not all of these are assured to be constructed and people which can be constructed gained’t be constructed for some time, she stated, however CPS Vitality initiatives the vitality wants of these initiatives to be round 26,000 megawatts. One megawatt powers round 250 properties.
Ball says CPS Vitality is beginning a pilot program that might let knowledge facilities develop on-site energy technology, however requires a tariff be paid on that energy.
The electrical energy supplier’s president and CEO, Rudy Garza, stated CPS Vitality would possibly want to amass extra energy sources, however is able to meet knowledge heart demand over the subsequent few years.
Information facilities, significantly these used for synthetic intelligence, require an enormous quantity of sources. However water use is trending in a extra sustainable route.
Burton stated many knowledge facilities are utilizing newer liquid cooling, that are extra water environment friendly than evaporative cooling strategies that depend on releasing water into the air.
SAWS officers say they’re encouraging knowledge facilities to make use of recycled water. In 2023, Burton stated, 48% of knowledge heart water utilization was recycled water. In 2025, that quantity was as much as 75%. Immediately, knowledge facilities use round 0.1% of SAWS’ consuming water.
These numbers may enhance sooner or later. New knowledge facilities are planning to request about 600 acre-feet of consuming water and three,000 acre-feet of recycled water. One acre-foot is sufficient water for roughly three homes in a yr, Burton stated.
That’s the place SAWS begins to run right into a ceiling. The recycled water system can transfer round 30,000 acre-feet of water. Final yr, the utility supplied nearly 20,000 acre-feet of water to prospects, leaving it with capability for under round 10,000 extra acre-feet of water earlier than it wants upgrades.
A few of these upgrades, like a plan to attach its Leon Creek and Steven M. Clouse water recycling amenities, are in progress, Burton stated, however SAWS will not be trying to develop its system till subsequent yr.
Officers from each utilities identified that knowledge facilities aren’t the one giant customers of native sources.
CPS Vitality calls any buyer that makes use of greater than 40 megawatts of electrical energy — sufficient to energy roughly 10,000 properties — a big load consumer. That features different industrial prospects and enormous retail or grocery amenities.
These giant load prospects make up 9% of CPS Vitality’s gross sales right now, however the utility expects that to develop to 19% within the subsequent 5 years.
