Data Center Utility Requirements and Reliability
This follow-up Science and Technology note dives deeper into data centers. It highlights the electricity and water required to run a data center and explains the size and reliability requirements of data center facilities.
Updated June 4, 2026
Research Highlights
Data centers use large amounts of electricity and water, but the specific amounts used depends on their size and the type of tasks they are performing.
West Virginia has previously passed legislation to promote data center development.
Data center development in West Virginia has been met with a mix of positive and negative reactions in part due to the concerns over utility use.
Various strategies are available in order to maximize energy and water use efficiency.
Data centers are divided into four tiers based on their redundancy and reliability.
Data centers are needed to provide for the increasing number of online services they power. Data center operation requires electric and water usage and redundancies are often put in place to keep these facilities running in the event that there is a disruption in service. This Science and Technology note discusses the utility requirements of data centers as well as some of the redundancies they may include to provide continuity of services.
Electricity
The amount of energy used by a data center is generally described in terms of power capacity, or the maximum amount of energy it can use. The range of power capacities varies depending on size and application, ranging from 500 kW for a small data center to 100 MW or more for a large facility.
Most power is dedicated to running computer servers, which require differing amounts depending on the tasks they perform. Servers are stored on racks that typically draw around 4-6 kW, however those running tasks such as artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning can draw over 20 kW each. Due to the large energy requirement, there is strong interest in maximizing efficiency and decreasing strain on the consumer grid. West Virginia allows microgrid construction to power data centers through the passage of SB 4001 and HB 2014.
There are many strategies to maximize energy efficiency. One includes integrating Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) and Building Management System (BMS) software. DCIM software actively monitors all components of the facility (such as temperature and energy usage). BMS software monitors the facility’s environment (including the air conditioning and ventilation systems) to maintain the building at ideal conditions. Integrating DCIM and BMS capabilities thus allows systems to react in real-time to maintain ideal facility conditions and optimize energy expenditure.
Due to the importance of data centers, redundancies are often in place to keep them running in the event of any failure. Data centers are divided into tier levels depending on the amount of redundancies in place and performance metrics based on guidelines by the Uptime Institute. Basic redundancies include an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system that supplies necessary power until a backup generator turns on. Data centers with more advanced redundancies (N+1 or 2N) allow components to be taken offline without loss in service. An N+1 facility maintains one additional component than is needed at normal operations to account for failure or maintenance requirements. For example, an N+1 facility that normally operates with 2 generators would have 3. A 2N facility is the most advanced—known as a ‘fault tolerant’ facility—it maintains twice as many of all components (power supply, cooling, etc) to allow for maintenance or complete failure of an entire set without interrupting normal operations.
| Tier | Minimum Uptime | Maximum Downtime/Year | Redundancy | Expense | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 99.671% | 28.8 hours | None | Least expensive | Small business |
| II | 99.741% | 22 hours | Partially redundant-primarily power and cooling | Expenses increase | Small/medium business |
| III | 99.982% | 1.6 hours | Full component (N+1) | Expenses increase | Large or growing business |
| IV | 99.995% | 26.3 minutes | Full redundancy (2N) | Most expensive | Mission-critical enterprises |
Adapted from Data Center Tiers Classification
Water
In addition to high electricity requirements, data centers use large amounts of water. Although specific volumes of water required depend on the data center’s size and function, daily water requirements typically fall between 20,000 and 5,000,000 gallons. The average data center uses approximately 0.5 gallons/kWh, but extremely large tech companies are sometimes able to reduce their water usage to around 0.05 gallons/kWh, primarily due to economies of scale. AI chatbots are particularly water intensive, with ChatGPT using 1 bottle of water per hundred words generated. The initial training of large language models can take up to 4 million gallons of water. In Loudon County, Virginia, home to the world’s highest concentration of data centers, water consumption increased more than 250% between 2019 and 2023. Data centers in West Virginia would be classified as large water users (more than 300,000 gallons per month), and be required to report their water usage to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection each month.
Much of the water a data center uses is directed towards cooling. Evaporative cooling is a frequently-used method of cooling data centers. Hot air is blown over a water-saturated pad. The water evaporates, taking the heat with it and reducing the air temperature. This method results in the loss of nearly 80% of water and is one of the most water-intensive cooling methods. However, there are several strategies that could be implemented to reduce data center water consumption. Air-based or liquid cooling strategies could be implemented, but there is often a tradeoff between water usage and electricity consumption. Cooling using non-potable water, geothermal cooling strategies, or increasing water reclamation could also reduce the water use of data centers. Some companies have implemented programs to decide what type of cooling system and water conservation efforts would be best suited for each data center site.
| Data Center Size | Building Size | Server Count | Power Capacity | Water Consumption | Example Company |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | 5,000-20,000 sqft | 50-2,000 | 1-5 MW | 20,000 gallons/day 6.5 million gallons/year |
Equinix |
| Medium | 20,000-100,000 sqft | 2,000-10,000 | 5-20 MW | 550,000 gallons/day 200 million gallons/year |
Digital Realty |
| Large | 100,000+ sqft | 10,000-100,000+ | 20-100+ MW | 5 million gallons/day 1.8 billion gallons/year |
Amazon Web Services |
Adapted from Data Center Water Usage and Data Center Power
This Science and Technology Note was prepared by Nathan G. Burns, PhD, and Madison Flory, PhD, West Virginia Science & Technology Policy Fellows on behalf of the West Virginia Science and Technology Policy (WV STeP) Initiative. The WV STeP Initiative provides nonpartisan research and information to members of the West Virginia Legislature. This Note is intended for informational purposes only and does not indicate support or opposition to a particular bill or policy approach. Please contact info@wvstep.org for more information.
Data Center Water Use
Most data center water consumption is used to keep their servers at optimal operational temperatures. Servers are the computers housed within a data center that perform tasks such as running programs, storing data, and supporting web-based applications. Data centers have two levels of cooling systems: server-level cooling and building-level cooling.
Server cooling is the action of cooling the servers running functions in the data center. There are two general methods for server cooling. Air cooling, which is the most common method and uses virtually no water, pumps cool air throughout the server room like an air conditioner in a house. Air cooling has cheaper infrastructure costs and uses more electricity than liquid cooling. Liquid cooling systems circulate water throughout the servers in a loop. Within the server room, this is a closed system that does not require much water consumption. Liquid cooling systems are favored for their low energy needs and higher cooling efficiency, especially with high-intensity workloads like artificial intelligence. Liquid cooling infrastructure, however, is generally costlier than air cooling systems and is more complex.
After removing heat from the servers, the server cooling system uses a heat exchanger to transfer the heat to the building cooling system. The building cooling system removes heat generated by the servers from the building. According to Equinix, a data center company, there are two primary methods of building cooling. Air cooling uses air to remove the heat from the building. Though air cooling uses virtually no water, it requires large amounts of energy. Alternatively, evaporative cooling uses water to dissipate heat through evaporation similarly to the way our bodies cool themselves through sweat. Evaporative cooling is more efficient than air cooling and uses large amounts of water. The type of building cooling that is used largely depends on specific data center characteristics including its location and the area’s climate.
There are currently 8 proposed data centers in West Virginia, 2 of which are under construction. Concerns have been raised with regard to how much water West Virginia data centers will require. It is currently unclear how much water these data centers will use; however, Virginia, which has the largest data center market in the world, has public information on water usage in the state. As of 2023, there were 150 data centers housed in 340 buildings in Virginia. A 2024 Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report found that total water use for all of Virginia’s data centers accounted for less than 0.5% of all state water use in 2023 and that most data center buildings used the same amount of water as a large office building. The report also found that about one-third of water used was wastewater that had been treated for reuse but not consumption. However, infrastructure needed to reclaim water is costly and may not be a viable option for small utilities and it is unclear whether resources to upgrade these systems would be the responsibility of the ratepayer or data center.
Based on data from the Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.
Basic layout of a data center cooling system A server cooling system cools the server room and passes heat through a heat exchange to the building cooling system, which then works to remove the heat from the building using air or evaporative cooling.
Based on data from the 2024 West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Water Resources Report and Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.
This Science and Technology Note Addendum was prepared by Nathan G. Burns, PhD, West Virginia Science & Technology Policy Fellow on behalf of the West Virginia Science and Technology Policy (WV STeP) Initiative. The WV STeP Initiative provides nonpartisan research and information to members of the West Virginia Legislature. This Note is intended for informational purposes only and does not indicate support or opposition to a particular bill or policy approach. Please contact info@wvstep.org for more information.
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