HBAC 160: Tristan Rader - State Representative District 13
About this episode
The episode features a discussion with State Rep. Tristan Rader on the implications of Ohio's data center expansion on electric reliability and utility costs.
Ohio’s rapid expansion of data centers is building stress around electric reliability, rising utility costs and who ultimately bears the burden of responsibility for billions of dollars in new infrastructure. Those issues were the focus of our conversation with State Rep. Tristan Rader who serves as (among other assignments) the ranking minority member on the Ohio House Energy Committee. Rader has long argued that lawmakers should ensure the costs of serving this new, investor driven electricity demand fall on the companies creating it and not existing residential ratepayers. He warned that Ohio’s unprecedented pipeline of data center projects could strain a largely reliable but aging electric grid. The discussion turned to Hilliard’s own proposed data center developments, including behind-the-meter “fuel cell” natural gas generation. Rader said requiring large facilities to provide some of their own power addresses only part of the demand while simultaneously introducing new environmental and neighborhood concerns. He said Ohio should instead encourage cleaner on-site generation such as solar and other renewable technologies where feasible. Rader also defended maintaining strong…
More episodes of The Hilliard Beacon Podcast
- HBAC 163: Franklin County Fair w/ Amy Fleshman
- HBAC 161: Franklin County Auditor Michael Stinziano
- HBAC #159 - Food for the Fourth and City Housing Policy
- HBAC #158: Cosmic Confab with Jason Hissong
- HBAC 157: Head, Heart, Hands and Health
- HBAC 156: Hilliard Short Film Festival
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