Add Art 12 §§240 - 243, §76-a, Pub Serv L; add §1854-e, Pub Auth L; add Art 19 §19-101, Energy L
Regulates energy consumption by data centers; requires annual disclosure reporting; prohibits incentives in fossil fuel power purchase agreements with utilities; directs the public service commission to establish a data center surcharge and discount plan.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6394--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 13, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sens. GONZALEZ, MAY -- read twice and ordered printed, and
when printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and Telecommu-
nications -- reported favorably from said committee and committed to
the Committee on Environmental Conservation -- committee discharged,
bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee
AN ACT to amend the public service law, the public authorities law and
the energy law, in relation to regulation of energy consumption by
data centers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "New York state sustainable data centers act".
3 § 2. Legislative intent and findings. The legislature finds that data
4 centers are significant energy and water consumers and significant
5 contributors to air and water pollution. The expansion and operation of
6 data centers across the state impairs New York state's ability to
7 achieve the renewable energy and emissions reduction benchmarks required
8 by the climate leadership and community protection act due to their
9 significant use of energy and water and significant emissions of green-
10 house gases generated through the power needs of their operation. Given
11 the growing demand for the construction of data centers, there is a
12 critical need to improve the energy efficiency of data centers and
13 reduce their energy consumption, water consumption, reliance on fossil
14 fuels, and emissions. Likewise, the large quantities of water used by
15 data centers contribute an additional threat to the health of the
16 state's waters, the ecosystems of which they are an integral part, and
17 the residents of the state who rely on them. This act will ensure that
18 economic development involving data centers is consistent with the
19 state's environmental standards and principles, and that where renewable
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09616-05-5
S. 6394--A 2
1 energy is used to power data centers, that such energy is being used
2 responsibly, with the interests and health of the public in mind.
3 § 3. The public service law is amended by adding a new article 12 to
4 read as follows:
5 ARTICLE 12
6 REGULATION OF DATA CENTER ENERGY CONSUMPTION
7 Section 240. Definitions.
8 241. Data center disclosure reports.
9 242. Public engagement.
10 243. Annual data center disclosure report updates.
11 § 240. Definitions. For the purposes of this article:
12 1. "Carbon dioxide equivalents" shall have the meaning given to such
13 term in section 75-0101 of this chapter.
14 2. "Data center" shall mean: (a) a structure, group of structures, or
15 infrastructure within an existing structure for the central housing of
16 server racks that are used for the interconnection and operation of
17 information technology and network telecommunications equipment for the
18 provision of data storage, data processing, or data transport services;
19 and (b) all related facilities and infrastructure for power distrib-
20 ution, environmental control, cooling and security required to deliver
21 the desired service with respect to the specific data center.
22 3. "Data center operator" shall mean the owner or operator of the data
23 center, or other person who has comparable rights of use over a data
24 center, including any person or entity responsible for allocating space
25 for external use of information technology and network telecommuni-
26 cations equipment within a data center.
27 4. "Data center disclosure report" shall mean that report which data
28 center operators must submit to the commission prior to construction of
29 a data center, as required by section two hundred forty-one of this
30 article.
31 5. "Employee" shall have the meaning given to such term in section
32 seven hundred forty of the labor law.
33 6. "Host community" shall mean any municipality within which a data
34 center, or any portion thereof, has been developed or proposed for
35 development, or which suffers any negative impact from a data center.
36 7. "Negative impact" shall mean any increase in emissions of regulated
37 air contaminants as defined in subdivision twenty-two of section 19-0107
38 of the environmental conservation law, discharges into waters of the
39 state as described in subdivision two of section 17-0301 of the environ-
40 mental conservation law, noise pollution, or any other form of pollution
41 that affects a host community.
42 8. "Renewable energy" shall have the same meaning as "renewable energy
43 systems" as defined in section sixty-six-p of this chapter.
44 9. "Regulated data center" shall mean a data center projected to have
45 an energy usage capacity of five or more megawatts.
46 10. "Bill credit" means a monthly monetary credit which is funded by a
47 data center operator as further determined by the commission and appears
48 on the utility bill of a low income or moderate income customer located
49 in this state.
50 11. "Hyperscale data center" shall mean a data center that takes up
51 ten thousand square feet or more and uses at least five thousand serv-
52 ers.
53 12. "Micro data center" shall mean a data center that is enclosed
54 within one standard server rack and does not support critical loads of
55 more than one hundred fifty kilowatts.
S. 6394--A 3
1 § 241. Data center disclosure reports. For any proposed regulated data
2 center, the proposed data center operator shall submit a data center
3 disclosure report to the department and the commission at least one
4 hundred eighty days prior to commencing any construction activities
5 related to a regulated data center. The report shall contain relevant
6 information regarding the proposed regulated data center, including:
7 1. (a) the host community or communities in which the regulated data
8 center will be located; and
9 (b) the organization of the planned regulated data center as a single
10 operator enterprise or managed data center, colocated facility, hypers-
11 cale data center, micro data center, or a container or modular data
12 center.
13 2. the number of full-time and part-time employees the data center
14 operator intends to employ at the planned regulated data center and
15 relevant demographic information including but not limited to:
16 (a) the education levels of the employees intended to be employed at
17 the planned data center, with percentages included for highest education
18 achieved including high school diploma, associate's degree, bachelor's
19 degree, and higher level of education; and
20 (b) the projected percentage of employees residing in the host commu-
21 nity or communities.
22 3. (a) the projected average energy usage of the planned data center
23 per day and related information including but not limited to:
24 (i) the projected type of energy being used that is neither fossil
25 fuel nor renewable energy, where applicable;
26 (ii) the forms of renewable energy expected to be utilized; and
27 (iii) the projected percentage of energy usage that is fossil fuel,
28 renewable energy, and neither renewable energy nor fossil fuel where the
29 data center is operating at peak;
30 (b) the projected average amount of energy usage per hour of the
31 planned data center during peak load measured in kilowatt-hours and
32 anticipated frequency of peak load per week;
33 (c) the projected annual emissions of carbon dioxide equivalents
34 produced to power the facility which are produced off-site;
35 (d) the projected annual amount of waste heat produced on-site, meas-
36 ured in British thermal units;
37 (e) the projected percentage of the annual amount of recovered waste
38 heat, that was transformed into energy to power the data center; and
39 (f) the intended use for recovered waste heat to include but not be
40 limited to general building heating, cooling systems, coolant system
41 specifically for the capture of waste heat from processors.
42 4. If a planned regulated data center is required to obtain and hold a
43 permit pursuant to title fifteen of article fifteen of the environmental
44 conservation law, the data center operator shall report:
45 (a) the amount of water projected to be used annually and how that
46 water will be used in the planned regulated data center; and
47 (b) the average amount of water expected to be used daily measured in
48 gallons.
49 5. For any regulated data center making any discharge within the mean-
50 ing of article seventeen of the environmental conservation law, the data
51 center operator shall report:
52 (a) the annual projected discharges by type and amount; and
53 (b) how discharges will be treated, if at all, to remove pollutants
54 and/or to what extent discharge temperature will be adjusted, if at all,
55 before being discharged.
S. 6394--A 4
1 6. The commission may promulgate rules requiring additional disclo-
2 sures, as appropriate.
3 § 242. Public engagement. The commission shall publicize the data
4 disclosure report on its website within ten days of receiving such
5 report. The data center operator shall hold at least two public hearings
6 within sixty days after submitting its data center disclosure report to
7 the commission. At least one of the two public hearings must be held
8 within the host community where the data center operator plans to locate
9 its data center. The data center operator shall provide at least thirty
10 days advance notice to residents of host communities of any planned
11 public hearings. Notice of public hearings shall include the time,
12 place, and location of each public hearing, a summary of the proposed
13 data center project, and the specific location of the planned data
14 center. Methods of providing notice to a host community shall include,
15 but shall not be limited to, coverage in any print or digital publica-
16 tion produced by local, community, and ethnic media. During a public
17 hearing conducted pursuant to this section, the data center operator
18 must explicitly disclose and present its finding under section two
19 hundred forty-three of this article in clear and concise language
20 comprehensible for members of the public in general. It shall also
21 address the efforts it will make to reduce any negative impacts to the
22 host community and its environment that the planned data center may
23 cause. A draft of the data center disclosure report shall be made
24 publicly available no later than thirty days prior to the first hearing.
25 § 243. Annual data center disclosure report updates. 1. A regulated
26 data center operator shall submit an annual data disclosure report to
27 the commission, which the commission shall post on its website within
28 fifteen days of receipt. Data center operators shall include all changes
29 to the disclosures required pursuant to section two hundred forty-one of
30 this article from year-to-year. Additionally, annual reports shall
31 include but not be limited to information regarding the data center
32 operator's efforts toward greater energy efficiency and overall sustain-
33 ability that year. Such findings shall be presented in clear and
34 concise language readily comprehensible for members of the general
35 public.
36 2. Specifically, data center operators shall report:
37 (a) Efforts made to reduce energy consumption within the past year;
38 (b) A comparison of the year's energy consumption to the initial
39 projected amounts outlined in subdivision three of section two hundred
40 forty-one of this article, and, following the first year, a comparison
41 to the year before;
42 (c) A projection for energy usage for the next year, that includes the
43 same information as required by subdivision three of section two hundred
44 forty-one of this article;
45 (d) Efforts made to reduce fossil fuel consumption and increase the
46 percentage of energy use of, or support for renewable energy within the
47 past year, with a comparison of the year's fossil fuel consumption to
48 the projected amount, and, following the first year, a comparison to the
49 year before;
50 (e) Efforts made to reduce water consumption within the past year;
51 (f) (i) For data centers that are required to obtain and hold a permit
52 pursuant to title fifteen of article fifteen of the environmental
53 conservation law, a comparison of the year's water usage to the project-
54 ed amount, and, following the first year, a comparison to the year
55 before, expressed in gallons; and
S. 6394--A 5
1 (ii) For data centers that are required to have a permit pursuant to
2 title fifteen of article fifteen of the environmental conservation law,
3 a projection for water usage for the next year, disclosing the same
4 information as required by subdivision four of section two hundred
5 forty-one of this article;
6 (g) Efforts made to protect the environment and public from polluted
7 water in the past year accompanied by measurements of actual water
8 pollution in a manner to be determined by the department pursuant to
9 regulations;
10 (h) Efforts made to reduce waste heat and utilize waste heat to power
11 the data center accompanied by measurements of actual heat waste emis-
12 sion and reuse; and
13 (i) Percentage of data center employees that live within the host
14 community.
15 3. In the event of any noncompliance with section two hundred forty-
16 one or two hundred forty-three of this article, the department shall
17 notify the data center operator. The data center operator shall have
18 sixty days to cure such violation. If such violation has not been cured
19 after sixty days, such data center shall be subject to fines of up to
20 ten thousand dollars based on the severity and extent of the violation
21 and shall be assessed another ten thousand dollar fine for every day
22 they are late in complying with such sections. All funds collected under
23 this article shall be deposited into the environmental protection fund
24 established by section ninety-two-s of the state finance law.
25 4. The department and the attorney general are authorized to enforce
26 the provisions of this article.
27 § 4. The public authorities law is amended by adding a new section
28 1854-e to read as follows:
29 § 1854-e. Energy consumption efficiency goals. 1. No later than one
30 year after the effective date of this section, the authority, in
31 conjunction with the federally designed bulk system operator, the public
32 service commission, and the New York state climate action council shall
33 determine reasonable energy consumption efficiency goals for the design
34 and operation of data centers as defined in article twelve of the public
35 service law, including, but not limited to, recycling of waste heat
36 emitted from data centers into an energy source. Such goals shall align
37 with the benchmarks set forth in the climate leadership and community
38 protection act enacted by chapter one hundred six of the laws of two
39 thousand nineteen and shall be reviewed and updated accordingly, annual-
40 ly.
41 2. A data center operator that has commenced operation prior to the
42 effective date of this section shall have two years to comply with the
43 energy consumption efficiency goals developed pursuant to this section.
44 A data center operator that has commenced operation within one year of
45 the effective date of this section shall have one year to comply with
46 such energy consumption efficiency goals.
47 § 5. The energy law is amended by adding a new article 19 to read as
48 follows:
49 ARTICLE 19
50 DATA CENTERS
51 Section 19-101. Fossil fuel power purchase agreements.
52 § 19-101. Fossil fuel power purchase agreements. 1. Power purchase
53 agreements for any energy generated through the consumption of fossil
54 fuels shall not provide economic incentives or discounts to regulated
55 data centers, as set forth in article twelve of the public service law.
S. 6394--A 6
1 2. In furtherance of the goals set forth in the climate leadership and
2 community protection act: (a) by two thousand thirty, at least one-third
3 of all energy used by regulated data centers must be provided through
4 power purchase agreements exclusively for renewable energy; and (b) by
5 two thousand thirty-five, at least two-thirds of all energy used by
6 regulated data centers shall be provided through power purchase agree-
7 ments exclusively for renewable energy; and (c) by two thousand forty,
8 all energy used by regulated data centers shall be provided through
9 power purchase agreements exclusively for renewable energy.
10 3. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have
11 the following meanings:
12 (a) "Power purchase agreement" shall mean an agreement between a data
13 center operator, a utility, an authority, or an independent power
14 producer wherein the utility agrees to provide the data center electric-
15 ity, or an independent power producer, over a defined period of time.
16 (b) "Utility" shall have the same meaning as "utility company" as
17 defined in section two of the public service law.
18 § 6. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 76-a to
19 read as follows:
20 § 76-a. Data center surcharge and discount plan. 1. The public service
21 commission is hereby authorized and directed, to initiate a proceeding
22 within three months of this bill becoming law to establish a regulated
23 data center surcharge that will be charged to all regulated data
24 centers. The commission when determining the surcharge, shall ensure the
25 surcharge will be sufficient to cover any rate increases resulting from
26 transmission and distribution system upgrades that are required for
27 regulated data centers to interconnect to the grid and operate, along
28 with any increases in energy supply costs directly resulting from the
29 operations of data centers.
30 2. All monies collected from the regulated data center surcharge,
31 excluding any reasonable and prudently incurred utility administrative
32 costs associated from collecting the surcharge, shall be directed to the
33 energy affordability program created within the department case docket
34 14-M-0565, in the Order Adopting Low Income Program Modifications and
35 Directing Utility Filings, Proceeding on Motion of the Commission to
36 Examine Programs to Address Energy Affordability for Low Income Utility
37 Customers May 20, 2016, or any successor programs.
38 3. The commission shall authorize each electric utility corporation to
39 establish an account that is solely used for storing the proceeds of the
40 regulated utility data center surcharge, and once every year, upon
41 review and approval from the commission, shall transfer those proceeds
42 to their energy affordability program customers in the form of monthly
43 bill credits.
44 4. This proceeding shall include a public comment period of at least
45 sixty days and four public hearings in different regions of the state.
46 5. Within one year of the effective date of this section the commis-
47 sion shall issue an order requiring all electric corporations to imple-
48 ment a surcharge on regulated data centers within their service territo-
49 ries. The commission shall review and update this surcharge for
50 regulated data centers once every three years.
51 § 7. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
52 law.
