MON AM News: Renewable energy could quickly respond to data center power demands, expert says; Lawmakers ask DSPS to delay build code updates

September 29, 2025

— Wind and solar power are well-positioned to quickly respond to the increasing load data centers are putting on Wisconsin’s electrical grid, a renewable energy expert argues.

Wisconsin has become a hotbed of data center activity over the past few years, underscored by Microsoft’s more than $7 billion in investments in the southeastern region of the state. Increasing demand on the electrical grid is normal, but data centers are only adding to that demand. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory predicts data center electricity consumption will grow from 176 terawatt hours in 2023 to between 325 and 580 terawatt hours in 2028, which would represent 6.7% to 12.0% of annual U.S. electrical consumption.

David Neely, EDP Renewables’ senior director of development for the central region, told WisBusiness wind and solar power is better positioned than other power generation sources to quickly respond to those demands.

“If you just think simple supply and demand, we do support, kind of an all-in approach for what these utilities can get online. It’s what they need to get online, because there’s a rush to do capacity,” he said. “Renewables is a big, important factor in that.”

Some wind and solar projects can be built and come online in as little as a year, Neely said. That’s compared to roughly four years for traditional natural gas and coal-powered plants, according to International Energy Association data. The same IEA data also shows roughly two-and-a-half years to bring renewable projects online, though.

Wisconsin’s goal to have all electricity consumed be 100% carbon-free by 2050 is also an attraction for both data center and renewable investment, Neely said.

“One of the biggest factors is we can see that the interest in this type of investment, in these companies to invest, is largely guided by where these types of standards and guidelines are in place,” he said. “They’re very, very attracted to states and communities that are very much looking to set a standard and push forward on clean energy goals and renewable energy goals.”

While Neely said there are “gigawatts worth of renewable energy coming online” annually in Wisconsin and surrounding region, that’s not going to be enough to feed all the coming data centers in the state.

“But I do think renewals unleashed would be a big piece in kind of offsetting that demand curve,” he said.

Outside of renewables in the short-term, energy generation would have to come from increasing production at existing, likely outdated and inefficient, energy plants, he added.

“Right now, what they’re doing is essentially turning up some of that unused capacity in an inefficient way to just respond to this in the short term, where renewables just can’t continue to fill it,” he said.

But that’s where wind and solar power come in. Over the years they’ve become an established, reliable and more affordable source of electricity generation that can be constructed in a relatively short amount of time, Neely argued.

And while wind power had its “renaissance period” recently, becoming more efficient, cheaper and easier to build, solar is just in the middle of its renaissance period, Neely said. The two also complement each other well, especially when combined with emerging improvements in battery technology, he added.

“What batteries can do is store all of that and then provide a release of it during the nighttime and flatten that curve,” he said, referring to the electricity generation curve for solar panels, which usually peaks during the daytime.

The biggest barrier to renewable energy, and other electric production types, right now is Wisconsin’s outdated grid, Neely argued.

Wisconsin is in a relatively good position compared to other states because it’s working on studying and updating its power transmission network, Neely said. But most of the grid was designed decades ago without consideration for the current power demands from data centers or any other electric-powered technology that became popular since about the 1980s.

So while new wind and solar farms can start producing power in as little as a year, oftentimes the grid is too congested or not available to connect to and send that power where it needs to go.

— Two GOP lawmakers are hoping to convince the Department of Safety and Public Services to delay enforcing commercial building code updates to give the construction industry time to adapt.

Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, and Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, on Friday forwarded a letter to every lawmaker in the Capitol asking them to sign on. They’re asking DSPS Secretary Dan Hereth to delay enforcement until April 2026, arguing the move “will save time and money for those paying for the new factories, hospitals, places of worship, apartments, condominiums, and schools being constructed.”

“There will be significant compliance costs required on short notice, especially considering the Wisconsin construction season typically slows down from late fall to early spring due to weather,” they wrote. “Specifically, there are large and complicated construction projects in urban areas that have been in development for over a decade due to local approvals, financing, ordinances, and the logistical challenges that exist in constructing for an area that already has large buildings and limited space to navigate.”

They’re planning to send the letter on Oct. 1.

— An immigrants’ rights group says some of those detained in Manitowoc County during a joint federal operation were dairy workers who gather every morning in the same place for their commute to work.

The FBI provided no details on last week’s joint operation it conducted with federal immigration officials that resulted in the arrests of 21 people other than nine were targeted for their suspected involvement in the sexual assault and/or trafficking of minor American girls. A spokesperson for the FBI in Milwaukee says there were no other details to share beyond a social media post noting the arrests and the agencies that assisted in the operation.

In a statement from Forward Latino and its affiliates, the advocates said it was “reckless and harmful” to tie all those detained to the allegations of sex trafficking.

“At a time when Wisconsin faces a severe labor shortage, we should be focused on expanding legal pathways, not tearing families apart,” said Darryl Morin, the national president of Forward Latino. “Hardworking, tax-paying, law-abiding immigrants should be part of the solution, not demonized and separated from their families.”

In its post on X, the FBI said all 21 were in the country illegally. The post included pictures of federal agents.

“FBI Milwaukee and our law enforcement partners are dedicated to and focused on protecting and safeguarding our Wisconsin communities every day,” the agency wrote in a post on X.

— UW-Madison is naming a professorship after architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Dan Erdman, whose father, Marshall Erdman, was contracted by Wright in 1949 to build the First Unitarian Meeting House in Shorewood Hills adjacent to Madison, is endowing the Frank Lloyd Wright Professorship in Modern American Architecture in the UW–Madison Department of Art History. Dan grew up going to Wright’s Spring Green home, Taliesin, with his father.

Anna Andrzejewski, a professor of vernacular architecture and former chair of the art history department, will be the first to hold the new position.

“There’s a history that this professorship honors,” she said. “At the same time, it opens up new possibilities for engaging with the public and connecting students with the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, and the issues he engaged with his work, including affordable housing, buildings designed for the community and architecture that is sensitive to environmental considerations.”

Andrzejewski will hold the position for three years.

Marshall’s long relationship with Wright and career building his designs are what’s allowed Dan to prosper as a real-estate developer and fund the new position, Dan said.

“Wright is a native Wisconsinite, and I thought it would not only be appropriate, but essential that the University have a professorship in Wright’s name that is dedicated to Wright and modern American architecture,” Dan said.

— The annual World Dairy Expo kicks off this week in Madison at the Alliant Energy Center.

This marks the 58th year of the event, starting Tuesday, with more than 3,000 cows and 1,740 exhibitors.

See the schedule here.

World Dairy Expo to make Madison the center of the bovine world

ICE arrests of farm workers shake up Manitowoc County, a dairy powerhouse

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