To the Editor,
A 55-megawatt data center in Harmony would represent an enormous new electrical load. By rough annual consumption, it would use about 54 times as much electricity as Harmony’s municipal system and roughly twice the electricity currently used across all of Fillmore County according to available data. That scale deserves careful scrutiny before any commitments are made.
Who pays for new grid infrastructure? Could residents’ electric rates increase? How much tax revenue would actually remain local? How many permanent jobs would be created?
There are environmental and quality-of-life questions too. What noise limits would apply, especially for low-frequency sound? What are the groundwater risks? What backup generators would be installed, how often could they operate, and what emissions limits would apply?
Fillmore County has spent generations building an economy around farms, small businesses and industries where the people using our land and infrastructure are also part of the community. Before dedicating 55 MW of capacity and dozens of acres to a data center, we should know how much of the economic value it creates will actually remain here.
We should also ask what happens if today’s data-center boom cools. Investor willingness to finance a project does not prove long-term demand.
For Harmony, the central question is simple: What concrete economic benefit do local residents receive, and who carries the risk if the projections prove wrong?
Aaron Brungardt
Harmony, Minn.
Anonymous says
A deeper dive into existing data revealed the following, with respect to the Harmony Data Center…
1-According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the average number of person residing in each household nationwide is 2.53 person per unit: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045225
2-There is reportedly a limit on power consumption by the Harmony Data Center of 55 MW.
3-So what is the population for which 55 MW would be sufficient to meet their electrical power needs? According to this article, 20 MW is would be adequate to serve 16,500 households: https://www.aterio.io/blog/20-mw-data-center-consumes-enough-electricity-to-power-approximately-16-500-average-u-s-homes
4-Dividing 55 MW by 20 MW produces a result of 2.75. Multiplying that result (i.e., 2.75) by 16,500 households result in 45.375 households, the number that could be sustained with 55 MW. Multiplying those 45,375 households by 2.53 persons per household yields a result of 114,798.75, or 114,799 people (rounded off), the population whose needs could be met with 55 MW of electrical power.
5-According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the current population of Fillmore County is 21,540 people, which falls far short of the 114,799 people that could be served by the electrical power needs of the Harmony Data Center. Here’s the U. S. Census webpage: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fillmorecountyminnesota/PST045225
6-By adding the population of Fillmore County’s neighbor to the east, i.e., Houston County, we can add 18,400 people to the cumulative total, increasing the number to 39,940 people. The corresponding US Census webpage: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/houstoncountyminnesota/LND110210
7-By adding the population of Winona County, Houston County neighbor to the north, we can add another 50,523 people, increasing the cumulative total to 90,463 people, still short of the 114,799 total. The link: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/winonacountyminnesota/PST045225
8-Heading further upriver to Winona County’s neighbor to the north, i.e., Wabasha County, we can add another 21,537 people (which is 3 less than Fillmore County). That brings our cumulative total to 112,000: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/wabashacountyminnesota/PST045225
That still leaves us 2,799 people short, a number that falls about midway between the current populations of Spring Valley and Chatfield, Minnesota.
People residing in the surrounding area might do well to ask themselves a few questions, such as: Can locals compete with those data centers, oftentimes financed by multi-billionaire investors, to pay higher electricity rates? If those data centers need to increasingly rely upon using diesel fuel, or possibly coal (if its cheaper) to generate the power it needs, how will that affect the air quality in the surrounding area? To the extent that the area’s economy depends upon the tourist trade, how willing will tourists be to inhale polluted air? If there are any adverse health impacts for people residing within varying distances from the data center, will the owners of the data center pay for those medical costs, even though they cannot compensate for human suffering part of the equation?
Locals may be comforted by protective provisions included in the signed agreement with local authorities, believing that the terms of the contract will protect them. If people residing in the surrounding area begin to experience adverse impacts, and can cite violations of said contract, can the town of Harmony afford to pay high-powered attorneys ($1500/hour would be a bargain) to go toe to toe with the owners of the data center, who have much deeper pockets and can easily snow the town of Harmony with endless motions and other legal trickery to keep the lawsuit going for years, or until Harmony runs out of money and gives up?
One of the selling points to locals will be the promise of increased jobs, which may be the case, temporarily, while the data center is being constructed. Once it is built, according to this website, the facility would need 0.2 on site staff per MW, which would come out to 11 permanent on site staff. That 0.2 figure is for data centers using 100 MW or more, so its possible that, given the smaller size, as many as 50 long-term jobs might be created, using smaller data centers as a template. Here’s the link to that webpage: https://www.irecruit.co/insights/data-center-staffing-ratios-people-per-mw-2026
Brookings Institution researchers found that developers typically over promise jobs for a proposed data center by a factor of three. In addition, there’s the possibility, if not probability, that increased innovations in artificial intelligence will render some or possibly most of those jobs obsolete, replacing humans with robots: https://www.governing.com/workforce/the-reality-of-data-center-jobs
Locals may want to consider the impact upon electrical power resources, keeping in mind the case of John Steinbach of Virginia, who saw his monthly power bill increase from about $100 during one month to $281 during the following month. For those who can easily afford higher rates for water and power without blinking an eye, then those increases may be a non issue. Here’s the related story, which was published by Consumer Reports in March of this year: https://www.consumerreports.org/data-centers/ai-data-centers-impact-on-electric-bills-water-and-more-a1040338678/
Locals may prefer to comfort themselves with the reassurance that the owners of the data centers are their friends, and will prioritize their well-being over their own profit. Various people reading this response are likely to have widely varying opinions.
In the event that the data center proceeds as planned, should any locals experience “buyer’s remorse”, just keep in mind that reversing course after the fact will undoubtedly be even more difficult than putting the toothpaste back in the tube.
This final saying might apply if Harmony wants to be the first in Southeast Minnesota to step up to the plate.
“The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”