LITTLE ROCK — During a Joint Energy Committee meeting last week, Arkansas lawmakers questioned how Google’s data center campus in West Memphis would impact power bills across the state
The facility is part of a 20-year partnership between Google and Entergy Arkansas.
Google cited growing energy demands through its various products, such as YouTube, internet searches and Gmail, as the need for a new data center.
According to released documents, the project is expected to result in a nearly $6 monthly increase for Entergy customers over the 20-year period, prompting questions from lawmakers about how the costs would be shared.
Entergy has not disclosed the exact energy demand from Google.
The committee tabled the matter for its October meeting.
Google is also discussing plans for a second data center project in the Little Rock area. West Memphis Utilities has said the data center project would not impact its customers, as the utility is independent from Entergy Arkansas.
