One Desert Data Center Could Use More Power Than 361,000 Homes
In California's Imperial Valley, a single proposed project has become a symbol of how fast data centers are growing. Developer Sebastian Rucci has proposed a nearly one-million-square-foot data center near the City of Imperial, rated at about 330 megawatts. Supporters say it would be the largest data center in California. At full power, 330 megawatts running year-round works out to about 2.9 billion kilowatt-hours. Using an average of 8,000 kilowatt-hours per home, that is as much electricity as roughly 361,000 California homes use in a year. That is more homes than exist in all of Imperial County.

The county hit pause
The project has faced months of community opposition. On June 16, 2026, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to pause pending and future data center projects under an urgency ordinance. A 19-member advisory committee is now developing zoning and building rules for data centers, with recommendations expected by January 2027. Residents raised concerns about energy and water consumption, environmental and public health impacts, and the project moving forward without full state environmental review. The Sierra Club has challenged the project in court, and the developer has said he plans to sue over the moratorium.

What a project this size means for the grid
A data center does not sleep. Unlike a home, which uses more power in the evening and less overnight, a data center runs around the clock, often at 80 percent of its capacity or more. That includes the hot late afternoons and evenings when California's grid is already under the most strain. Serving that kind of load requires new transmission, new substations and new generation. Someone has to pay for that infrastructure, and state consumer advocates have warned that ratepayers could be left covering costs if large projects stall or fail.

The question for homeowners
Whether or not this particular project is ever built, it shows where electricity demand is heading. Imperial is one of many communities being asked to host massive new loads. When demand grows faster than the grid, the hours of highest demand become the most expensive hours to buy power. That puts every homeowner on one side of the meter. You can keep buying all of your electricity from the grid and absorb whatever rate increases come next. Or you can produce your own power, store it, and send extra energy back to the grid for compensation.

Producing your own power without buying equipment
Many homeowners assume solar and batteries require a large purchase or a long-term loan. That is no longer the only path. Qualifying California homeowners can get solar and battery storage through third-party ownership programs, without buying or financing equipment. The system serves the home first, the battery covers expensive evening hours, and extra power sent to the grid earns bill credits. With Governor Newsom's signature on SB 913, the state is now working on a method to value home batteries that send power to the grid during periods of high demand. As data centers push demand higher, homes that can supply power are positioned on the right side of that equation.

The takeaway
A single data center can use as much electricity as hundreds of thousands of homes. Homeowners cannot control what gets built in the desert, but they can control where their own power comes from and how exposed they are to rising rates. Depending on the home and program, savings can reach up to 40 percent compared with utility rates.

To find out if your home qualifies for a TPO solar and battery program, visit myhomesolution.org/california_public_utility_commissions