QTS Data Centers announced a $1.5 million partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison for research advancing sustainable infrastructure development in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and various departments across campus.
Madison Williams, Chief Investment Officer at QTS, said the partnership will have benefits beyond the company and university.
“[UW] is all about sustainability for better data centers,” Williams told The Daily Cardinal. “They want to contribute to the greater good of development.”
Supported research projects will focus on grid stability, renewable fuels, environmental impacts of data centers and other key factors. Nelson Institute Dean Paul Robbins said in a statement he is “excited to partner with leading industries to create more sustainable outcomes.”
“Our focus in this collaboration is providing objective, science-based insights that can benefit both industry and communities in Wisconsin and beyond,” Diane Stojanovich, Distinguished Associate Dean for Communications at the Nelson Institute, said in an email to the Cardinal.
She said the partnership began after QTS reached out to UW-Madison’s Office of Business Engagement and the Nelson Institute Enterprise.
But QTS, based in Ashburn, Virginia, has received scrutiny from local residents. DeForest resident Mary Sanderson said in an email, “How much consideration was given before accepting blood money from QTS?”
QTS moved its plants to DeForest after the Town of Vienna voted against an agreement following widespread community opposition.
North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters representative Andrew Disch is supportive of the data center. He said, “If your answer is ‘don't build it’, then what's your solution? Because as a society, we rely on the modern day conveniences that data centers are providing.”
The Building Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin, composed of 17 local building trades unions, announced a recent partnership with QTS to build the $12 billion data center.
“Projects like these will help stabilize our local construction workforce, [creating] predictable employment and supporting long term career growth,” said Tracy Griffith, an Executive Director for the trades council.
QTS plans to submit a zoning application to the DeForest Village Board in November.
