ATLANTA — The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has launched a new initiative aimed at helping communities determine whether they are prepared to attract data center development.
The program, called the Data Center Ready Community Designation, evaluates factors including infrastructure, workforce and zoning.
“The goal is to help our elected officials and communities make informed decisions and understand what readiness actually looks like. Do you have fiber access, water systems, workforce, plan use, the right zoning?” said Georgia Chamber President and CEO Chris Clark.
Clark said the designation is intended to help communities replace misinformation with facts and preparation.
“Most importantly I think it will help communities replace misinformation with facts and preparations,” Clark said.
The initiative comes as demand for data centers continues to grow alongside the expansion of artificial intelligence and increased computing needs.
“Because we know that the demand for energy, connectivity, computing power, is only going to grow,” Clark said.
Clark acknowledged that not every community wants a data center but said the program is designed to help those that do make informed decisions.
“We’re not saying that every community wants a data center, but we want to make sure that those that do, are following the right process, are transparent, and can work with all partners that might be interested,” Clark said.
Data centers have become a controversial issue in some communities, with residents raising concerns about congestion, noise and water usage. Several metro Atlanta cities and counties have paused approvals for new data center projects amid public opposition.
At the same time, utility providers are preparing for increased demand. Georgia Power President and CEO Kim Greene said the company is expanding capacity to meet future needs.
“We’ve got a plan, and we’re building these power plants, we’re building the transmission, we’re building the distribution, to ensure everybody has reliable power going forward,” Greene said.
Greene said Georgia Power is working to nearly double its overall capacity under a plan approved last year.
“We want to make sure that everybody recognizes that even though we are serving some of these larger customers, we’ve got room, we are open for business,” Greene said.
WSB Radio’s Jonathan O’Brien contributed to this story.
