More Optimism

Harwood, ND welcomes AI investment with developer-funded power upgrades and low-water cooling

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The AI data center under construction near Harwood, North Dakota, comes with utility commitments that deserve attention. The developer will pay for needed electrical upgrades, and the cooling design avoids consumptive water use for equipment cooling. Mayor Blake Hankey also expects jobs and property-tax revenue that can help the city repair roads and sewer infrastructure.

Applied Digital president and co-founder Jason Zhang posted this on X about Mayor Blake Hankey's FOX Business interview. It is a company executive's post, not independent reporting.

Data centers done the right way—with community partnership and lasting local benefits.

Thank you, Mayor Blake Hankey, for sharing Harwood’s story on FOX Business.
— Jason Zhang (@realjasonzhang), Applied Digital president and co-founder. View the post on X, November 6, 2026

Cass County Electric Cooperative and Minnkota say the campus will use closed-loop cooling that eliminates consumptive water use for equipment cooling. They expect other water consumption to be less than that of one single-family home per building. That is different from saying the entire project uses no water.

Cass County Electric also says the developer will pay for the necessary electrical infrastructure improvements. That addresses who pays for those improvements, but it is not a guarantee about future residential electricity rates.

Harwood voters rejected additional industrial-review requirements on November 3. The vote was decisive. InForum reported an unofficial tally of 325 No to 105 Yes on the proposed charter amendment, or 75.6% of votes cast against it.

Those utility commitments make the project more encouraging for the AI buildout. Applied Digital’s planned Polaris Forge 2 campus represents a substantial investment, and Mayor Blake Hankey sees a chance to use the resulting tax base to improve the city people already live in. That is a good reason to welcome new infrastructure.

“I’m personally very happy to have the data center,” Hankey said in a Fox Business interview.

The vote was not a referendum approving the campus, though. The rejected Article X amendment would have required additional technical review, public hearings and written findings for qualifying industrial projects needing discretionary city action. It preserved already-final approvals and vested rights, while future expansions or modifications needing new approvals could have faced review.

Voters rejected those additional requirements. The result does not tell us why each person voted that way, or settle every question about the project.

What Harwood stands to gain

Applied Digital announced a $3 billion campus with an initial capacity of 280 megawatts and more than 200 full-time employees expected when fully operational, plus contractors. Those are company projections, not investment and employment already delivered.

Hankey’s enthusiasm extends beyond the jobs. In the interview, he described anticipated property-tax revenue as a way to pay for roads and city sewer improvements that would otherwise require more money from residents. He acknowledged that some additional taxes or special assessments could still be necessary.

There is a specific forecast behind that argument. In a company presentation hosted by the North Dakota Legislature, Applied Digital projects roughly $1.65 million in annual property taxes for Harwood’s city government at full buildout in 2028. Its estimate across all local taxing authorities is $7.61 million annually.

Those figures are forecasts, not guaranteed receipts or finalized assessments. Actual collections depend on construction timing, project scope, tax rates and any exemptions or abatements.

Still, the proposed benefit is easy to understand. A data center needs physical infrastructure, and its tax payments can help fund infrastructure for its neighbors. The company has to deliver the project and the revenue, but the mayor is right to take that opportunity seriously.

Residents deserve clear answers

Residents should be able to examine those commitments. InForum reported concerns from Voices of Harwood and other residents about the speed and transparency of the approval process, including an early nondisclosure agreement. Those are legitimate questions about how the city makes decisions. Supporting the project does not require dismissing them.

Applied Digital president and co-founder Jason Zhang described the project as “Data centers done the right way” with “community partnership and lasting local benefits.” That is the company’s case. Its execution will determine whether residents agree.

Harwood has a concrete opportunity here. If Applied Digital delivers the campus and the projected tax revenue follows, the city can gain jobs and money for infrastructure improvements. Building AI capacity and improving the surrounding community are compatible goals. Harwood’s mayor is making the case for both.

Loudoun County, VA’s ‘Data Center Alley’ brings in about 40% of tax revenue on about 3% of its land

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Loudoun County, Virginia, has a concrete answer to what data centers can do for their neighbors. Its FY2026 budget figures put the industry’s real and personal property tax revenue at $1.2 billion. That is money available to support public services without putting the entire cost on homeowners and other taxpayers.

Clip shared by Fireside Alpha from WSJ Events' The Data Center Debate.

Data centers in Loudoun County, Virginia: “We get $1.2 billion a year in local tax revenue, about 40% of all of our tax revenue...on 3% of our land”

Buddy Rizer, the county's economic development chief, explained how “data center alley” grew:

“We would have never looked at…
— Fireside Alpha (@firesidealpha). Watch the clip on X, November 6, 2026

“We get 1.2 billion dollars a year in local tax revenue, about 40% of all of our tax revenue,” Buddy Rizer, Loudoun’s economic development chief, said during WSJ’s full discussion. Data centers take up “only about 3% of all of our land in the county,” he added.

The land figure is Rizer’s estimate. The county’s fiscal figures establish the scale of the contribution, although the $1.2 billion is a budgeted amount, not audited collections. Loudoun’s adopted FY2027 projection rises to $1.3 billion.

That is a substantial local benefit from the physical infrastructure behind our software. It deserves attention alongside the demands these facilities place on their surroundings.

The benefit is in the local tax base

Rizer described the original strategy as practical reuse. Loudoun had existing buildings and internet infrastructure. The plan was to use the fiber loop, internet exchange and reclaimed-water infrastructure to attract data centers, rather than leave those assets underused.

Loudoun Water’s reclaimed-water program, built in 2010, supplies treated wastewater for industrial cooling and irrigation. That gives participating customers an alternative to drinking water for those uses. It does not mean every data center uses reclaimed water, or that the industry uses no water.

The industry grew far beyond that starting point. The county now counts 233 data center buildings totaling 56.5 million square feet, either built or under construction. That is not a count of operating facilities alone.

The buildings matter to local finances, but so does the equipment inside them. Loudoun’s FY2026 General Fund revenue document budgets about $794.8 million from data center equipment taxes alone. Real property taxes contribute additional revenue.

In the panel, Rizer credited the industry’s growth with helping Loudoun build schools and other public facilities. The basic financial advantage is straightforward. A large commercial tax base gives a county another way to fund services instead of relying as heavily on residential property.

The benefit is less reliance on residential taxpayers, not proof that every household’s bill fell.

It is also not a newly created AI windfall. Later in the discussion, Rizer described Loudoun as roughly 95% a cloud market and said it would not be an AI-training market. The county’s experience is relevant to today’s infrastructure debate, but a new training campus elsewhere will have different requirements.

Keep the revenue, learn from the mistakes

Rizer’s defense of the industry’s contribution was not an argument for unlimited expansion. “I don’t think we should have any more. I don’t think we’re going to get any more,” he said, while arguing that the county should not take its existing businesses to task.

He also acknowledged that some facilities had been built too close to homes. Later, he identified constant equipment noise as a design problem that communities should address before construction. A sound can stay below a legal decibel limit and still bother someone who hears it continuously.

Those admissions make the fiscal argument more useful. Revenue does not excuse poor siting. Communities can recognize the benefit and require better separation from homes and better equipment placement.

There is a budget risk, too. Loudoun’s FY2026 adopted budget identifies the danger of depending heavily on one industry. Its stabilization fund has a target tied to 10% of budgeted data center tax revenue. That target is a planning measure, not a statement of the fund’s current balance.

Loudoun has built a tax base large enough to help pay for services across the county. Keeping that benefit means protecting residents near the facilities and budgeting for revenue that can change. That is a much more useful example for other communities than either promising effortless growth or ignoring what the industry already pays.