Environmental groups call on Microsoft to power Mount Pleasant data centers with clean energy

State environmental groups are calling on Microsoft to power its Mount Pleasant data center campus with renewable energy, as advocates say data center expansion nationally has slowed progress in the clean energy transition.

Last week, more than a dozen advocacy groups signed onto an “open letter” to the tech giant, warning the multi-billion-dollar project could “push Wisconsin backwards in the fight for clean energy and safe, healthy air.”

And more data centers — which use 10 to 50 times the energy per floor space of a typical commercial office building — could be coming to Wisconsin in the coming years, raising concerns it could lead to more fossil fuel infrastructure to meet increased demand...