The New Orleans City Council passed a yearlong ban on data centers in New Orleans and began an effort to clarify zoning regulations for new data center projects on Wednesday (Jan. 28). “I’m working in collaboration with the New Orleans City Council to prevent projects like this from happening in our neighborhood,” Moreno said. A chief concern for data centers is the vast amount of power they use, potentially stressing local grids or requiring new electrical generation. MS Solar Grid Data, which was established in early 2024 according to state business records, aims to build solar-powered data centers, according to the company’s website. Nationwide surge in data centers sparks resident concernsThe push against massive data centers has been widespread nationally as tech companies look for cheap land to build on to keep up with demand from artificial intelligence, with 3,000 new data centers planned as of 2025, according to reporting from Axios.