An aerial rendering of what the new data center will look like when construction is complete. Provided by Meta
The new Meta data center coming to River Ridge Commerce Center could open in 2026, and as the facility continues construction on its 619-acre campus, Indiana residents are questioning the potential effects on water and energy use in Clark County.
The $800-million center is the latest development at River Ridge, which has become a development hotspot, welcoming big-name projects into the Southern Indiana area including Canadian Solar, Amazon and the Cheesecake Factory. The commerce center recently agreed to give Jeffersonville $1.7 million for municipal public safety service and wastewater treatment.
Data centers like the one in River Ridge receive an incentive to come to Indiana. The Data Center Gross Retail and Use Tax Exemption, passed in April, provides data centers exemptions from sales and use tax on data center equipment and energy for up to 50 years for projects over $750 million. Smaller projects also receive the exemption for up to 25 years.
In Jeffersonville’s case, the data center will have a 35-year sales tax exemption for a minimum $800 million in eligible capital, according to a release from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.
Wendy Dant Chesser, chief director of corporate strategy and external affairs, said before exemptions like these, data centers weren’t investing in Indiana. Part of that reason, she said, is because equipment for data centers is short-lived, necessitating companies like Meta to purchase new equipment frequently.
“They were passing us by,” she said. “The intention of the sales tax exemption is to recognize that they have a short shelf life for their main investment, which is equipment, and that if Indiana was going to attract any data centers, we had to do something to lower that threshold.”
But even before that exemption was signed into law this year, River Ridge was working on the agreement with Meta. Chesser said Meta began “sniffing around” in 2019, and River Ridge began working on the project around that time before taking a pause from COVID-19 lockdowns.
By September 2022, River Ridge and the Jeffersonville City Council approved the agreement with Meta. In December 2023, River Ridge transferred 619 acres to Meta, and the plan to build the center was officially announced in 2024.
With state legislation like Senate Bill 1 putting pressure on local communities to find funding, organizers say they worry whether the new center will contribute to or harm residents nearby.
ENERGY COSTS COVERED, DUKE ENERGY, META SAY
With the presence of smartphones and prevalence of artificial intelligence, Chesser said, the demand for data centers is “exponentially skyrocketing.” She thinks this inevitably forces a need to find ways to meet that demand.
“As a community, as a state and as a nation, we’re going to have to make some tough decisions on how we’re going to generate power to feed the demand. The only other alternative is to curb the demand. I don’t know how you can do that.”
She said while customers are rightfully concerned about the expenses these centers can bring, it’s not a question that can be solved by one corporation alone.
“Is it fair that ratepayers are paying for that generation? That’s a policy question,” she said. “That’s not River Ridge’s playground.”
A spokesperson for Meta said in a statement Meta has taken on the financial obligations associated with building new transmission infrastructure to ensure customers are not burdened by the expenses.
“A core pillar of Meta’s commercial supply agreements that we enter into with electricity providers is that Meta pays for the full cost that directly benefits our data centers.”
Meta also makes additional investments in energy to match its annual energy use with 100% clean and renewable energy, the spokesperson said, including six new projects in Indiana.
“Meta is committed to playing a positive role and investing in the long-term vitality of the communities where they operate. We design and build our data centers with efficiency, flexibility, and sustainability in mind.”
In an email to the News and Tribune, McKenzie Barbknecht, in corporate communications and public affairs at Duke Energy, said the energy company agreed to purchase power on Meta’s behalf outside Duke’s system, with Meta agreeing to reimburse Duke Energy for the costs of acquiring the power. The company has also pledged to cover costs associated with new infrastructure needed to power the center and the electrical grid.
“This large power contract was submitted to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission for review,” Barbknecht stated. “Part of that review process involves ensuring existing customers are protected. The commission has reviewed and approved the contract.”
Barbknecht did not reveal how many years the contract between Meta and Duke Energy is set for or how much Meta will pay Duke per year to power the center. When asked how many megawatts of electricity the center will require each year, Barbknecht said she also couldn’t disclose details of the contract publicly.
When entering into contracts to supply power to data centers, utility companies often make significant investments in advance through long-term contracts, such as the agreement between Duke Energy and Meta. If the company purchasing the energy for the data center fails to purchase an adequate amount for what the center ultimately needs, those contracts can be adjusted to expand the amount of energy the utility company can purchase to provide.
This is a point of concern for advocates like Paula Brooks of the Hoosier Environmental Council, who worry Meta could quickly outrun its original energy supply and become hungrier for even more, causing brownouts.
“That impacts the surrounding community to where that data center is, because the data center has to have a level power distribution,” she said.
Barbknecht stated Duke Energy engaged in a “robust planning process” to ensure the company can build the infrastructure needed to support Indiana’s energy needs while keeping costs low. Regulatory oversight for that, she said, comes from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, which approved the project.
“Indiana’s major utilities file integrated resource plans with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission at least every three years. They show how the utility will fulfill their obligation to serve their customers with existing and future resources.”
HOW MUCH WATER WILL THE CENTER USE?
While Meta will purchase power from Duke to fulfill its needs, the company will not have to go far to access water, as River Ridge acts as its own water company, only serving River Ridge businesses.
Currently, River Ridge generates six million gallons of water per day, and recently announced it is doubling its treatment capacity to 12 million gallons per day, “continuing our commitment to responsible growth and long-term stability,” the authority said in a statement on Facebook Oct. 7.
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute estimates large data centers can consume up to five million gallons per day. El Paso Matters reported in September a data center near El Paso, Texas stated its ongoing consumption would be 7.2 million gallons of water every year it operates.
Meta told the News and Tribune it will report its annual water usage in its annual sustainability report once the center is operational. The center will also use a closed-loop cooling system, a type of cooling technology designed to prevent evaporation that recycles and continuously circulates water between servers and chillers once the system is filled during construction.
“The closed-looped system circulates a glycol mixture through our data halls to absorb the heat generated by our servers. The heat is then removed by operating ‘dry coolers’ that blow air over the pipes, carrying away excess heat. This is the most water-efficient cooling technology for this geographic location and aligns with the environmental needs of the area,” Meta stated.
Before it was River Ridge Commerce Center, the business park on 300 Corporate Drive was the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, a manufacturing plant built in 1941. Addressing water use concerns, Chesser said Meta would not be the largest water user within River Ridge, and the plant’s water use does not compare to that of the army plant.
“The army during its heyday used about 100 million gallons of water a day,” she said. “Our treatment plant… will be up to about 12 million gallons a day — still a fraction, a fifth, of what the army was using when they were here. So I’m trying to ease any concerns about the water utility.”
Chesser said Meta negotiated an initial water capacity to purchase in its contract with River Ridge, but it is unknown how much the tech giant will actually use per month. If Meta were to use more water than originally projected, River Ridge could put a limit to use, Chesser said, but she doesn’t foresee that being an issue.
“If they were to get outside of whatever that negotiated amount is that they said they would use, then we’d have to enter into a new agreement with them,” Chesser said. “I don’t think they will.”
“I’m not saying that they should be held harmless in any way for anything they do,” she continued. “I just know that having worked with them, they are likely investing a boatload on how they can be less waterintense because they were willing to make the commitment that they are going to be energy-conscious.”
Meta echoed that sentiment. “{span}We design and build our data centers with efficiency, flexibility, and sustainability in mind and this would apply to any future development.”{/ span}
‘SEE WHAT WE ACTUALLY NEED’
Brooks serves as the environmental justice director at the HEC. She said she feels communities and residents should push their elected officials for transparency about AI data centers, especially due to the tax abatements they receive from states.
“Transparency on their agreement with the utility, with the water, the subsidies that they’re getting,” she said. “If you’ve got a $500 million project and you’re only contributing $100,000 to a community or nonprofit, that’s not really a benefit.”
She said corporations like Meta should create long-term plans for community investment, particularly since state legislation exempts the center from sales tax for decades.
“The focus should really be on the revenue that is being lost,” Brooks said.
The Jeffersonville data center has provided more than 1,250 jobs to construction workers, and when the center is open, it’s projected to create 100 jobs within the Meta facility.
“Meta also makes a concerted effort to source labor and materials locally through their general contractor, Turner Construction, and the site’s construction jobs have been well concentrated in the Jeffersonville-Louisville area,” the Meta spokesperson stated. “Over a dozen local subcontractors within about a 50-mile radius are represented on-site, and we estimate these account for up to 75% of the total workforce.”
But that’s a small number comparatively, said Kimberly Freeman, a member of Clark County Moms, which is a chapter of nonpartisan organizing group Hoosier Action. Freeman said she wants to know how many of the workers both on the construction site and inside the Meta center are truly local to Southern Indiana.
Meta stated it is committed to hiring locally and working with local partners to construct, operate, supply and maintain each of its data centers.
“From technicians and heating and cooling specialists to administrative support and planning, operating our data centers provides quality job opportunities for the local community.”
Brooks worries about the possibility of robots being used to replace some of those jobs as AI continues to boom.
“That’s happening in traditional data centers now, where some of the work is actually being automated,” she said. “It’s just something to think about and to really ask closely, what really is that economic benefit?”
Meta’s spokesperson provided an overview of its efforts to provide support to the communities it builds centers in through its Community Action Grants program, which provides direct funding for science, technology and math projects in schools and nonprofits. The program will officially launch Oct. 13.
In addition, the spokesperson said, Meta has volunteered with local organizations and invested in nonprofit and community events, including the Jeffersonville Riverstage, and supports business associations like One Southern Indiana and Leadership Southern Indiana.
“We [Meta] also recently announced a $150,000 grant to support a new educational partnership between Youth Link and Maker13 to enhance STEAM programming for more than 3500 students across fourteen Southern Indiana schools,” Meta’s spokesperson wrote. “This grant is providing STEAM carts, VEX Robotics Kits, LEGO SPIKE kits, and immersive LEGO building programs to inspire creativity and collaboration.”
Freeman said she knows no one can stop the data center’s construction, but hopes Meta will at some point consider other ways of supporting the data center’s home base. She said her family has lived in Clark County for five generations, and she would like to see examples of positive investments including in child care, health care and low-income families.
“It looks like they do want to give to our community,” she said. “Giving to the STEAM programs, that’s great. But all of our new elementary schools that are being built, all have stem labs. If Meta wants to be a good partner and a good neighbor, it would be great if they would sit down with community members and see what we actually need here in Clark County.”
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