On Tuesday, the Democratic-controlled Maine state legislature imposed a ban on large data centers. It wasn’t quite close. The state House passed it 79-62 and the Senate 21-13 — with a few exceptions along party lines, According to the Wall Street Journal. Gov. Janet Mills’ signature is still needed before it becomes law, and the Journal says she has expressed interest in signing such a ban under certain conditions.
The ban passed despite, or perhaps because of, Maine’s relatively low data center activity. Business Insider following permit requests for certain generators, it likely maps the construction of data centers, and Maine has only two such projects. But it requires a data center increases household energy costsand the website ranks Electric Choice Maine fourth highest in electricity prices.
Insider notes similar legislative efforts stopped or failed completely In Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. Many other cities and states are still considering such laws.
Maine’s ban is often described as a ban on “big” data centers, but the cap is 20 megawatts, which is actually pretty low and effectively blocks the construction of what’s known as an AI data center. According to the Regional Plan AssociationWhile data centers used about two megawatts of electricity when the data center concept was new, the average modern data center uses about 40 megawatts of electricity.
Maine’s bill puts a moratorium on construction until November 2027 and also creates a board whose job it will be to assess the value of data centers to the people of Maine.
