Alabama: data centers & your electric bill
As of October 1, 2026, AI GridWatch tracks 15 data center moratoriums or pushback actions in Alabama: 14 in force, 1 expired, rejected or rescinded. The state has 35 tracked data center facilities using an estimated 0.6 TWh of electricity a year.
Everything GridWatch tracks in Alabama on one page — proposed projects, moratoriums, permits, officials, and the 2026 ballot.
Subscribe by RSS — moratorium changes and community headlines for Alabama.
As of July 2026 (3m ago) · changes over months · Source: U.S. Data Center Power Map by State — ElectricChoice.com compilation (updated July 2026; CC-BY 4.0). Underlying load research: LBNL 2024 US Data Center Energy Usage Report; rates: EIA
Facility counts vary by directory because each one draws the boundary differently — DataCenterMap lists 44 in Alabama where this table says 35, since it counts small network rooms alongside hyperscale campuses. Cite the TWh figure rather than the facility count when you can; it is the number that speaks to grid impact. Underlying load research is LBNL-2001637 (Dec 2024).
1Proposed data centers in Alabama (3)
1 still live · 2 decided or withdrawn. Each name links to the full dossier — ownership, intelligence log, and where to read the paper trail.
| Project | Where | Size | Behind it | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Marvel | Bessemer | 700 ac | Logistics Land Investment | In review | Unverified |
| Meta Huntsville | Toney (Madison County) | 146 MW | Meta | Under construction | Source read 2026-08-14 |
| Meta Montgomery | Montgomery | 153 MW | Meta | Under construction | Source read 2026-08-14 |
2Pushback already happening in Alabama
| Where | Level | Status | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham | Local | Expiredterm ran to 2026-09-03 | 6-month moratorium on 20+ MW facilities, unanimous. Exempts the Nebius AI factory project (application already under review). On Jun 9, 2026 the council passed data center regulations 6-3, to take effect when the moratorium lifted | SourceNews read 2026-09-29 |
| Homewood | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-06-22 | 12-month moratorium, extendable 6 months. Preemptive — no data center proposals pending. Staff and Planning Commission to study zoning, operational, and infrastructure standards | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Leeds | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-06-03 | 1-year moratorium on data center applications and permits, unanimous (Ord. 2026-06-02). Preemptive — no active proposals, but residents flagged Alabama Power marketing of nearby Grand River site to data center developers | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Springville | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-07-06 | 1-year moratorium on data center proposals. Preemptive — no proposals in pipeline | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Cullman | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-06-24 | 12-month moratorium, unanimous (Res. 2026-116). Council also referred Ord. 2026-42 to Planning Commission to prohibit data centers outright. County cannot follow suit — limited home rule | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Fort Payne | Local | Enactedexpires 2026-12-16 | 6-month moratorium, unanimous. Preemptive — no developer inquiries. Proposed zoning: M2 heavy-industrial only, conditional use, 1,000-ft residential setback, EIS, water-use plan, noise standards | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Pinson | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-08-07 | 1-year moratorium targeting hyper/mega data centers, especially AI facilities. Preemptive — no proposals pending | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Fairfield | Local | Enactedterm not documented | Temporary moratorium after resident pressure over Patmos (Missouri AI co.) proposal to convert former Walmart to colocation data center. Duration not specified | SourceNews read 2026-08-13 |
| Prichard | Local | Enactedexpires 2027-02-04 | City Council approved a six-month moratorium on data centers, days after a building permit was issued to Edged Energy for a $93 million data center on July 30. The timing created a legal dispute over whether the Edged project is grandfathered. | SourceNews read 2026-09-06 |
| Harpersville | City | Enactedexpires 2027-02-03 | Town council approved 6-month moratorium to study economic and infrastructure impacts of data centers | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Tarrant | City | Enactedexpires 2027-09-08 | 12-month moratorium on data center business licenses; Mayor Tracie Threadford cited caution while city conducts feasibility study | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Anniston | City | Enactedexpires 2027-08-18 | Resolution No. 26-R-97 establishing 12-month moratorium on permitting, development, and licensing of data centers | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Westover | City | Enactedexpires 2027-02-18 | City council unanimously approved 6-month moratorium on data centers; prompted by proposed 437-acre project | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Foley | City | Enactedexpires 2027-03-08 | 6-month moratorium on data centers, cryptocurrency mining, server farms; preemptive — no active proposals; covers acceptance, processing, and approval of applications | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
| Lowndes County | County | Enactedexpires soon — 2026-10-25 | County commissioners unanimously approved 60-day moratorium on data center permits; response to proposed 1,050-acre "Project Red Clay" hyperscale data center; county lacks formal zoning authority, legal standing uncertain | SourceNews read 2026-09-11 |
As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
3Other Alabama communities in the news (2)
Places with archived data-center coverage but no moratorium on file. Grouped automatically from headlines and not verified — a lead worth reading, not a claim to cite.
- Montgomery — 6 archived headlines
- Huntsville — 4 archived headlines
4Known data center campuses in Alabama
| Operator | Location | Tenant | Filing LLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jackson County | Land-acquisition shells: Jet Stream LLC, Sharka LLC | ||
| Meta | Huntsville | Meta | Codename shells: Greater Kudu, Raven Northbrook, Stadion, Wobniar, Pinnacle Mountain |
| Meta | Montgomery | Meta | Codename shells: Greater Kudu, Raven Northbrook, Stadion, Wobniar, Pinnacle Mountain |
⏳ No verification date recorded · changes over months · Source: Operator ownership & filing-LLC naming patterns — compiled from operator releases and county filings, then checked against SEC EDGAR full-text search. Composite, not a single citation: look the entity up yourself before naming it in a filing
Each row carries its own attribution level — first-party rows come from the operator's own site, but colocation and REIT ownership was compiled from trade press and never passed an independent fact-check. Check the attribution column before citing a row.
5Every data center already built in Alabama
The campuses above are the ones GridWatch tracks by operator and filing LLC. For the full inventory — street addresses of every existing facility, including the smaller colocation and network sites — DataCenterMap keeps a public directory for Alabama.
Browse the Alabama directory →
Two caveats before you cite it at a hearing: it lists facilities that already exist, so a newly proposed campus will not appear; and it counts a small network room the same as a hyperscale campus, so the facility count is not a measure of power draw or community impact.
6Your regulator
Alabama Public Service Commission — website · file a complaint
Official state energy data: EIA Alabama electricity profile — generation, prices, and consumption from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
7Where the Alabama paper trail lives
Air & environmental permits: Alabama Dept. of Environmental Management (ADEM)
Searchable register: ADEM eFile document search — a public database you can search by facility or permit number.
No organised market. There is no interconnection queue to read here; the utility's own resource plan and the PUC docket are the record.
These are places to look, not evidence that anything has been filed. Links were checked on 2026-08-21; search links are queries, not records.
8Your federal delegation and governor
Grades cross party — this is an issue axis, not a partisan one. A blank grade means no documented action was located, never that the official is neutral.
| Grade | Official | Documented action (sourced) | Reach them |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | Kay Ivey Republican · Governor | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Katie Boyd Britt Republican · Senator · next on the ballot 2028 | No documented action on data centers located Guardrails Britt co-sponsors the Advancing Water Reuse Act (S. 3585) with Sen. Luján, which would create a 30% tax credit for on-site water recycling including at data centers; says siting decisions belong at the local level, opposes both a moratorium and "a data center on every corner," and wants the Trump administration's voluntary Ratepayer Protection Pledge turned into law. sources | site · contact |
| — | Tommy Tuberville Republican · Senator · on the 2026 ballot | No documented action on data centers located Mixed Tuberville, running for Alabama governor, has defended data centers and attributed local opposition to Chinese social-media influence, and in a September 2026 op-ed said local communities should decide whether to host one, data centers should sit in Alabama's highest property-tax bracket and pay the full cost of transmission, substations and water systems, and he would freeze Alabama Power rates. sources | site · contact |
| — | Barry Moore Republican · Representative 1 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Shomari Figures Democratic · Representative 2 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Mike Rogers Republican · Representative 3 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Robert B. Aderholt Republican · Representative 4 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Dale W. Strong Republican · Representative 5 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Gary J. Palmer Republican · Representative 6 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
| — | Terri A. Sewell Democratic · Representative 7 | No documented action on data centers located | site · contact |
Roster: regenerated by scripts/refresh_officials.py (Senate XML + congress-legislators + current governors).
Write to your senators → Your senators in detail → Full officials scorecard → Find your state legislators →
92026 U.S. Senate race
PVI R+15 · Seat held by Tommy Tuberville (Republican) · Incumbent retiring to run for governor
Barry Moore (Republican) No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Everett Wess (Democratic) No record found
No documented statement or action on data centers located. Not scored — see how this page treats silence.
Ballot roster: state candidate list (read 2026-08-25).
102026 U.S. House races in Alabama (7)
A documented data-center record exists in 6 of 7 districts. A candidate with no badge colour has said nothing we could locate — that is a gap in the record, not a neutral position. ★ marks an incumbent.
| District | PVI | Incumbent | Candidates |
|---|---|---|---|
| AL-1 | R+17 | Barry Moore Redistricted from the | Clyde Jones Jr. Jerry Carl |
| AL-2 | R+7 | Shomari Figures | Shomari Figures ★ Rhett Marques |
| AL-3 | R+23 | Mike Rogers | Mike Rogers ★ Lee McInnis |
| AL-4 | R+33 | Robert Aderholt | Robert Aderholt ★ Amanda Pusczek |
| AL-5 | R+15 | Dale Strong | Dale Strong ★ Andrew Sneed |
| AL-6 | R+17 | Gary Palmer | Gary Palmer ★ Maurice Mercer |
| AL-7 | D+10 | Terri Sewell | Terri Sewell ★ Ammie Akin |
The documented records (6 districts)
AL-2
Shomari Figures (Democratic) · incumbent Guardrails
Sided with Lowndes County residents opposing a proposed 1,050-acre data center, demanding community consent for data center siting
- Statement at Lowndes County event opposing proposed data center: 'I'm with the people of Lowndes County'; demands community consent for data center siting (2026-08-01 — source)
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-11.
AL-3
Mike Rogers (Republican) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
Recent mentions (3) — automated, not verified
Headlines that name this candidate and mention data centers or AI. Matched by a script, read by nobody. A mention is a lead, not a record — do not cite one as a position.
AL-4
Robert Aderholt (Republican) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
AL-5
Dale Strong (Republican) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
AL-6
Gary Palmer (Republican) · incumbent Consensus vote only
On the record only for voting yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act (417-3). No other data-center record located yet.
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-22.
AL-7
Terri Sewell (Democratic) · incumbent Guardrails
Cosponsored the AI Data Center Moratorium Act (HR 9442) calling for a pause on new data center construction until federal standards protect communities
- Cosponsored AI Data Center Moratorium Act (HR 9442) to temporarily halt data center construction until federal guardrails are established; said 'Responsible innovation and community protection are not competing goals' (2026-07-22 — source)
- Voted yes on H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed 417-3 (roll call 312). It directs state utility commissions to consider rate designs making data centers with 100 MW or more of peak demand at one site pay the full incremental cost of the generation and grid upgrades they require. A near-unanimous vote: shown on the record, not scored on its own. (2026-09-16 — source)
Record read 2026-09-11.
11Latest Alabama data center news
No Alabama data-center headlines in this week's national scan — local coverage often runs ahead of it.
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