Research Points to Looming Electricity and Water Strains in Northern Nevada Due to Increasing Data Centers

A data center map linked in Desert Research Institute findings released this week about local data centers identifies 28 of them from Stead to Carson City to Fallon with a heavy concentration in Storey County.

These include in pictures Novva Tahoe Reno at 1 Astro Way in McCarran on a 20-acre campus with 300-thousand feet of “cutting-edge data center infrastructure,” and Switch Tahoe Reno at 1 Superloop Circle in McCarran.

In Reno itself are Lumen Reno 1 at 220 Gardner Street on 12-thousand square feet, two Centra Renos one at 265 Keystone (pictured during construction) and the other at 200 S Virginia Street, the Roller Network Data Center at 3545 Airway Drive and Connect Reno by Oppidan at Virginia and Stead Blvd.

Statewide there are over 60 data centers already estimated to be consuming over a fifth of the state’s electricity generation capacity in 2024 with that share expected to grow to over one third by 2030, further straining local power grids.

In terms of water the report estimates a dozen of the state’s biggest data centers will be using nearly 12 billion liters of water per year by 2033, which is equivalent to estimates of what Nevada’s adults drink over eight years combined, in the driest state in the country.

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