3.22.24 Opinion CT SB299-afraid of the future, data centers and AI

CT SB299 — afraid of the future, data centers and AI
by Fred V. CarstensenMarch 22, 2024 @ 12:02 am
A look inside a data center. CREDIT: RAWPIXEL
Connecticut was at the heart of the American industrial revolution.
Connecticut was the birthplace of some of America’s greatest
companies, like Singer Sewing Machine, Hartford Steam Boiler, and
Pratt & Whitney. Connecticut’s entrepreneurs and innovators
generated more patents per capita than any state. Connecticut was
the can-do state.
Now, after more than three decades of stagnation, Connecticut is
recovering its vitality. In the last three years, after no net new
business creation since 2000, there is a surge in new businesses,
more than 10,000; job creation has been strong, with payrolls up
more 40,000 in 2022 and 2023; January saw 7,400 additions.
Connecticut has also enjoyed one of the nation’s best growth rates
in real gross state product. Add in a newly fiscally responsible state
government and the future looks promising. But this recent success
only brings us back to our previous peaks.
But will we sustain this new vitality? In this IT dependent economy,
the quality and scale of the IT infrastructure will be central to
sustaining that path. With the AI revolution, the single most
important element in that infrastructure is hyperscale cloud data
centers.
If we now seize the opportunity to become a national leader in AI
— which would flow from being a leader in building
those hyperscale data centers — Connecticut will surely sustain and
expand that new vitality. We open a new and exciting chapter in
our economic story.
Now some in Connecticut seem to fear the future. They don’t think

Connecticut is able to transition into being that modern, data-
driven, digitally dependent economy and manage the demand for
electrical power that AI demands. Driven by the fear that
Connecticut is not up to the task at hand, the legislature is
considering SB299, requiring a study of whether Connecticut’s grid
can cope with the surge in demand for electricity that construction
of hyperscale, cloud data centers will drive.
[RELATED: Legislature seeks data center study; Concerns raised
over delays]
Such data centers are the heart of the new AI economy, which is
rapidly becoming the dominant element in the IT world and the
foundation of future growth. Without that IT infrastructure and the
competitive advantage it creates, Connecticut, indeed, the
northeast, faces very difficult times.
The presumption behind SB299 is Connecticut isn’t up to the
challenge. That Connecticut’s effort to join the modern IT economy
and capture a leading role is beyond our abilities, beyond the
capacity of our regulatory agencies, beyond the resources and
leadership of our utility companies.
The language of SB299 is not forward-looking; it is not asking how
the state can facilitate, even push development of those data centers
that would transform Connecticut’s economy and restore the vitality
the state once had. Connecticut has suffered nearly 35 years with no
net job creation. Rather than sizing the opportunity to become
again the national leader Connecticut once was, SB299 says “slow
down, we probably aren’t up to this, and should be content to be a
second/third-tier state and marginally connected to the modern IT,
data dependent economy.”