There was a story in the Columbus Ledger last week that puts much of the news from the Golden Dome in sharp perspective.
According to the newspaper, the developers of Project Ruby, the estimated $5.18 billion datacenter project in northeast Muscogee County, have indicated it will require “more electricity than all of Columbus currently uses.” All the residential and commercial users in Columbus currently use a total 550 megawatts of power. Project Ruby is requesting access to up to 600 megawatts by 2034.
Given that this isn’t the only giant data center project being planned in Georgia, it’s not surprising that legislation aimed at protecting consumers from shouldering the costs of this massive increase in power usage has been introduced in both the Senate and House. The Senate version, authored by Republican Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, was the stronger measure, while the House version was more utility-friendly…