This may come as no surprise, but there is no room for a data center in Northern Virginia. As of the latest count, there were 245 centers owned by 52 operators, occupying 25 million square feet and consuming 3.6 GW of electricity.
California isn't much better, with 208 data centers owned by 63 carriers, with 53 in Santa Clara alone.
Unsurprisingly, data centers in these regions are short on space, power, and water, and their welcome is exhausted. The result is a movement away from hotspots and into new areas, where cheap land and cheap renewable power are sought after.
At the same time, however, some data center operators are expanding into metropolitan areas. There is a lot of activity outside of Columbus, Ohio, where power and space are abundant, but also in Austin and Atlanta, Texas.
Andy Kuvenglos, managing director of the Americas data center market at data center construction company JLL, said the following regions are seeing the most growth: Ashburn, Virginia; dallas; Chicago; phoenix; and Santa Clara, California. “What happens is that the absorption doubles or triples in some cases, effectively leveraging all the power available in those areas to serve the size load. '' he said.
As a result, we have seen many new secondary markets emerge in some proximity to these core markets. For that, columbus ohio, salt lake city, Reno, Nevadaand Austin, Texas.
Clete Casper, director of real estate at data center provider Sabey, is a little more cautious when discussing potential locations for data centers, identifying only Austin as a potential city and thinking long-term. We preferred to look at areas that may not have received attention. .
“We are looking for locations that our customers are interested in from a talent perspective, with very clear prospects for viable development, including available land, sustainable and clean power, and diverse and robust connectivity. “I'm looking for an easy path,” he said.
power rules everything
Alan Howard, lead analyst for data center colocation at Omdia, says power availability is the most important issue when choosing a data center location. Fiber backbones, tax incentives, available land, and more are all behind the power demand.
“The first question is, 'Can we get the power we need, and do we expect to need it?'” he says. “I've heard many data center operators say this: 'If you don't give me power, nothing else matters.'”
The problem with the power industry is that they are not consistent from state to state or even universally compatible. Howard noted that states with excess power may not be able to send it to states that need it because of incompatible hardware.
Not only do situations vary from state to state, but even within the same state. For example, Silicon Valley receives electricity from Pacific Gas and Electric Co., except for the city of Santa Clara, which has its own electric utility called Silicon Valley Power. Silicon Valley Power is about 25% cheaper than PG&E. That is why so many data centers have been established there, even though the region is seismically active.
“You know, it varies from city to city,” Howard said. “Each city may have different providers, different schedules and challenges, and different ability to meet deadlines.”
Due to the rapid growth and expansion of the data center market, the power industry is being overwhelmed by the data center market. Building power plants and substations takes time. It takes much more time than building a data center. The power industry has never had to be this agile, but the intense power demands of the growing data center industry have changed everything.
“Schedule for transmission line and grid improvements can vary widely and often result in project schedules being extended and increasing. Therefore, in many cases these infrastructure improvements are delayed until complete. “We think it will take three to four years, but there's no real guarantee that that timeframe will happen,” Howard said.
countryside vs city
It depends on the provider. Cloud service providers tend to choose isolated regions with cheap and abundant renewable energy sources. Quincy, a small town in central Washington (population 6,700), has nearly a dozen data centers because the area has plenty of space and plenty of hydroelectric power from the Columbia River.
But colocation providers like Equinix and Digital Reality Trust are sticking with cities because they want to be close to their customers, and their customers want to be close to their equipment. is.
“The basic concept that the customer needs to be close to the data center is still a component [of consideration]it can be difficult if you don't have easy access,” Sabey's Casper said.
However, he added, “When we consider what our customers want and what we want, opportunities related to available clean power are often prioritized.”
“To some degree, it’s convenient to get into places that these people have access to. [prefer]Rather than arriving by plane, [to a remote location]'' said JLL's Cvengros. “And then you have to bring in staff to build it and move construction crews and things like that.”
Besides power, land and fiber infrastructure, what do companies look for in a data center location? Howard said proximity to the market is important for starters.
“If you're doing a lot of business in Latin America, you'll want to be somewhere along the border in Texas, Phoenix, Miami. That gives you plenty of wait time to get to Latin America,” he says. said.