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.
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