From what I’ve heard, data centers may be coming to Fairfield County.
Now, before anybody starts celebrating or panicking, I think we need to do something communities do not always do when somebody arrives promising jobs, investment, and progress.
We need to slow down and ask questions.
Jesus said in Luke 14:28, “Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost?”
That sounds like wise advice for towers, houses, businesses, relationships, church building funds, and billion-dollar data centers.
Count the cost first.
Data centers are large buildings filled with computer equipment that stores and processes information. Banking, hospitals, streaming services, government records, social media and artificial intelligence all depend on them.
So yes, the need is real. The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects electricity use from data-center servers to grow significantly in the coming decades. (U.S. Energy Information Administration)
Fairfield County also has something these companies desperately need: dependable electricity.
The V.C. Summer Nuclear Station produces around-the-clock power and supports hundreds of jobs in our county. Dominion Energy says the plant generates enough electricity to serve approximately 225,000 homes. (Dominion Energy) Two new units are expected to come online at some point in the future.
That gives Fairfield an advantage.
But having a nuclear plant nearby does not mean a data center can pull up beside it, run a giant extension cord through Jenkinsville and holler, “We plugged in!”
That electricity already serves customers. A major data center could require new power lines, substations, backup systems and other expensive upgrades.
The first rule should be simple:
The data center must pay its own way.
South Carolina lawmakers are already considering protections designed to prevent the costs of serving enormous data-center customers from being shifted onto regular ratepayers. Proposed legislation has included minimum contracts, financial guarantees and requirements that companies cover infrastructure costs.
My light bill should not increase because somebody’s robot is writing a term paper in California. (No shade to California. I’m here as I’m writing this so it makes sense.)
Then there is the water.
Data centers create tremendous heat and must be cooled constantly. Some cooling systems can consume large amounts of water. Closed-loop liquid cooling, dry cooling and other modern designs can reduce that demand, but those protections must be required before construction— not politely suggested after the building opens.
Fairfield should also demand honest answers about jobs.
Construction may create many temporary positions, but how many permanent local jobs will remain afterward? What will they pay? What training will our residents receive? How much tax revenue will remain after incentives?
We should not trade hundreds of acres, enormous amounts of electricity and possible pressure on our water supply for 12 jobs and a ribbon-cutting picture.
I am not saying Fairfield should reject every data center.
I am saying we should not approve a thousand-acre digital kingdom before understanding what one responsibly sized project would do.
Start small.
Place it in an appropriate industrial area away from homes, farms, churches and schools. Limit water use. Control noise. Require the company to repair roads, build thicker walls, fund emergency services, disclose its energy use, and post money for cleanup if the facility closes.
Proverbs 21:5 says, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.”
Fairfield County needs opportunity.
But desperation makes terrible deals.
Let’s welcome serious conversations, count every cost and make sure any company entering Fairfield strengthens the community instead of simply using it.
Because trillion-dollar corporations know how to negotiate.
Fairfield County had better learn too.
For more information, residents can visit the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Today in Energy website and search “data centers,” or visit the South Carolina Legislature’s website and search “data center” to read proposed state laws for themselves.
Kenny Robertson, an educator and comedian, is a native of Ridgeway.