Paris, TN Enacts Data Center Moratorium; Henry County Utility Cites Capacity Constraints
The City of Paris, Tennessee, has adopted a temporary moratorium on new data centers to revise its zoning ordinances, while Henry County residents express concerns over noise, electricity, and water usage. The Paris Board of Public Utilities indicates they are at capacity for new data centers due to infrastructure limitations, despite clarifying that existing bitcoin centers use interruptible power and moderate water.
Residents of Henry County, Tennessee, are raising concerns about data center development, highlighting issues such as noise pollution, electricity and water consumption, and the potential impact on their rural lifestyle. James Benau, who attended an August 14 anti-data center rally in Henry County, articulated the sentiment that residents prefer the quiet and privacy of small rural communities over urban environments.
The City of Paris has implemented a temporary moratorium on new data centers, pending updates to its zoning ordinances to better integrate these facilities. In contrast, the Henry County government has not formally addressed data center development, and its rural areas do not have zoning regulations. Terry Wimberley, president/CEO of the Paris Board of Public Utilities (BPU), confirmed the utility's neutral stance but emphasized the priority of protecting current ratepayers.
Wimberley and Barry Flood, the BPU's manager of energy solutions, detailed significant infrastructure hurdles for new data centers, stating that developers would likely bear substantial costs for necessary upgrades, including new substations and transmission lines. They also noted that the BPU is currently at its capacity limit, having already rejected requests from existing data centers to increase their wattage. While three bitcoin data centers currently operate in Henry County, participating in a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) program that allows for power interruption during peak demand, AI-focused hyper-scale centers typically cannot tolerate such shutdowns.
Flood also addressed common misinformation regarding water usage, explaining that the largest data center in the county uses less water monthly than two prominent car washes, and other bitcoin centers utilize private wells. The TVA is reportedly working on a plan to ensure that data center expansion does not adversely affect existing customers, by requiring new data center owners to fund the TVA's infrastructure expenses.