Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says a proposed data center development in Delhi Township will have to win support from residents.
The Delhi Township Board of Trustees has called a special meeting Friday to consider a resolution opposing data centers after the Lansing Economic Area Partnership announced earlier this week it was partnering with Lighthouse Sustainability to explore placing a development on a 423-acre site off College Road.
The township dropped its LEAP membership after the surprise announcement.
The concept calls for a 700-megawatt data center with six hours of battery storage, closed-loop cooling and roughly 90 acres set aside for nature.
The data center would bring an investment of about $10 billion, according to media reports, and the company said it would generate about $53 million in annual revenue.
Whitmer said she hasn’t closely studied the potential development, which can’t be officially proposed until at least next spring due to a local moratorium on data center development.
But the governor said she understands the concerns residents have expressed about data center development.
“If anyone wants to make investments like that in the state, they’ve got to live up to our high standards,” Whitmer said. “You’ve got to be good corporate citizens. You’ve got to protect the water. You can’t burden ratepayers with energy costs.”
The resolution Trustees will consider Friday cites a statement it says one of the potential developers, Tom Dorris, made that they would drop plans for the development if the community opposed it.
