New York will temporarily ban the construction of large new data centers

BlockBeats message: On July 14, New York Governor Hochul signed an order to pause the construction of new hyperscale data centers. The ban took effect immediately and applies to data centers with electricity usage of 50 megawatts or more.

Previously, according to a report in Fortune citing research, the rapid expansion of AI data centers in the United States has driven a sharp rise in public electricity costs. The PJM market monitoring organization, which oversees power grids in 14 states across the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest, expects that the added electricity demand from data centers will cause power users to bear an additional $23 billion in costs, an impact that is expected to last at least through the end of 2028.

The report said that although multiple large technology companies have pledged to cover the costs of new power infrastructure, because public infrastructure costs such as transmission lines, substations, and grid upgrades are typically allocated and shared by regulators, some costs may still be passed on to residents and ordinary commercial users.

The research also noted that some data centers can reduce electricity use during grid peak periods by flexibly adjusting their power load, thereby lowering the grid costs they share based on peak load. However, they still consume a large amount of electricity, meaning their actual cost burden may be lower than the strain they place on the grid.