Wednesday, 19 August 2026

At least a dozen data center developments proposed across Alabama would, if built to full capacity, draw more electricity than every home in the state combined, according to an analysis published by Inside Climate News.

The question of who absorbs that load lands on a utility whose customers already pay the most in the country. Average residential bills in Alabama Power's service area are the highest in the nation, Inside Climate News reported.

The largest single proposal identified in the analysis is Project Marvel, a campus in Bessemer. Inside Climate News reported it is slated to consume 90 times more energy than all Bessemer residences combined.

Zoning for that project has already cleared. Public officials approved the rezoning, greenlighting clear-cutting of at least 100 acres previously zoned for agricultural use, according to the outlet. Residents near the site face up to a decade of construction to finish 17 buildings the size of Walmart Supercenters.

A second development, Project Red Clay in Lowndes County, is planned on an 800-acre site. The developer has outlined four buildings of 720,000 square feet each, a 100,000-square-foot warehouse and a 30,000-square-foot office, Inside Climate News reported.

The developments identified in the analysis stretch from Bessemer to the Black Belt.

A new state law changes how these contracts are reviewed. SB 270, enacted this year, requires the Public Service Commission to consider whether a utility's contract with a data center developer is in the public interest, and takes effect Oct. 1, according to Inside Climate News.

Republican politicians who championed the artificial intelligence buildout are recasting themselves as middle-ground pragmatists, pressing for guardrails on data centers and for the rollback of industry tax breaks, Semafor reported.

Rather than a moratorium on new facilities, a growing number of GOP candidates are calling for guardrails to shield skeptical communities from unchecked AI growth, alongside the removal of tax preferences for the industry, according to Semafor.

The repositioning has already produced state law. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation in May allowing communities to reject data center development and blocking data center costs from being passed on to consumers, Semafor reported.

In Ohio, GOP gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy pledged an executive order that would halt new data center construction unless host communities received tax breaks and environmental protections, according to Semafor. Ramaswamy made the shift after the May primary, beginning to argue that technology companies should work for the state.

The candidates are aligned with President Donald Trump's White House, which sought to blunt the momentum of anti-AI activists with a voluntary ratepayer protection pledge, Semafor reported. The pledge, released in March, carried industry promises to foot the bill for the power demand created by new data centers.

The common thread across the pledge, the Florida statute, and the Ohio promise is cost allocation: who pays for the electricity that new computing capacity draws, and whether local governments can say no.