POWER Act

This legislation mandates that the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, submit annual reports to Congress on the electric energy and water usage of specific data centers. The bill's findings express concern that data center construction and operation should not sacrifice national water resources or valuable farmland. It also states that the Federal Government should not subsidize data centers that would otherwise be unviable. The reports, due two years after enactment and annually thereafter, must include detailed information on water consumption from public water systems, specifying amounts for both recycled and continuously supplied water. They will also identify the number of covered data centers that generate all their own electricity versus those that are electric consumers. Furthermore, the reports will detail the costs associated with connecting these data centers to the bulk-power system and identify who bore those costs, providing comprehensive oversight on their resource demands and infrastructure impact.