Blandin on Broadband

News and information on broadband use, policy, and trends

Blandin on Broadband

Paul Bunyan Communication almost done on all-fiber broadband expansion in Central Aitkin County

Posted on by
Reply

Paul Bunyan Communications announces…

Construction is winding down on Paul Bunyan Communications major all-fiber optic broadband expansion project in central Aitkin County, with the GigaZone® all-fiber optic Internet & WiFi becoming available to over 1,800 homes and businesses over the next few months.
This expansion covers a wide area of Central Aitkin County including the cities of McGregor, Palisade, and Tamarack, along with portions of Clark, Haugen, Jevne, Libby, Logan, McGregor, Shamrock, and Workman Townships.

  • City of Palisade and rural areas east, south, and west of Palisade.
    The project is completed with services now available.
  • City of McGregor
    Construction is done. Fiber splicing is underway with services anticipated becoming available by the end of the year.
  • Current Construction
    Our construction crews are working in the city of Tamarack and the Round Lake/Horseshoe Lake area of Shamrock Township. Services are expected to become available over the winter.
  • Permit Delays
    Unfortunately, we have run into unusually long delays in getting the necessary permits for a few areas of this project. This impacts around 600 locations and as a result we will have to wait until the 2027 construction season to complete those areas of the project. These areas are highlighted in purple on our online map at https://paulbunyan.net/gigazone/availability-map/
    “We’re nearing the finish line on a majority of this important project,” said Chad Bullock, CEO of Paul Bunyan Communications. “Reliable internet is critical for work, education, healthcare, and staying connected, and we’re proud to start delivering that to more homes and businesses in Aitkin County.”
    Those included in this expansion will have access to GigaZone® Internet and WiFi, offering speeds up to 10 Gig and the reliability needed to support today’s connected homes and businesses. Voice services, including unlimited local and long-distance calling, will also be available. Business customers will benefit from Managed IT Business Services such as VOIP, Disaster Backup and Recovery, and Network Management.
    Residents and businesses in any of these areas can sign up anytime. If the cooperative cannot bring the network up the location before winter, crews will return to make that connection and install services in the spring. There is no membership fee to join the cooperative; membership begins when subscribing to GigaZone® Internet or local phone service.
    To check availability or sign up for service, visit http://www.paulbunyan.net, call, or stop by the Grand Rapids Customer Service & Technology Center.

Updates on Paul Bunyan Communication’s Expansion to City of Hibbing

Posted on by
Reply

Good news from Paul Bunyan Communications…

Paul Bunyan Communications has made great progress on expanding its GigaZone® all-fiber optic network in an area southwest of downtown Hibbing and is adding another area to the expansion construction this fall.
The new expansion area added to this year’s plan includes over 140 locations in an area south of Hwy 169 between MN Hwy 73 and 1st Avenue stretching just south of S 47th Street. It includes parts of 11th Ave W, Newberg Rd, Aspen Knoll, Opal Lane, Aspen Grove, Diamond CT, and Meadow Drive.
Construction will take place over the next few weeks with services expected to be available over the winter. To get connected, residents and businesses just need to sign up for service. That can be done online at https://paulbunyan.net/ or in person at our Grand Rapids Customer Service & Technology Center.
Construction is almost done on the first area of expansion that includes over 700 locations in an area that stretches from Hwy 169 east to 1st Avenue and north to 28th Street West. It includes portions of Ansley Rd, Corey Tracts Rd, 1st-9th Ave W, Dillon Rd, and 28th-41st St W.
There is no construction fee to get connected and there is no membership fee to join the cooperative. Membership begins when you subscribe to GigaZone® Internet or local phone service.
Once the new all-fiber optic network is operational, homes and businesses can get fast, dependable GigaZone® Internet and WiFi built to keep every device connected. Voice services, including unlimited local and long-distance will also be available. Business customers will gain access to Managed IT Business Services like VOIP, Disaster Backup and Recovery, and Network Management. In addition, Paul Bunyan Communications is an authorized DIRECTV dealer and certified Apple Service Center.
“It’s important for anyone in the expansion area who wants to get connected to sign up as soon as possible. By signing up before construction crews stop for the winter, you’ll be able to have your services installed once the network becomes operational. We will return to connect additional locations in the future, but those who wait to sign up may not be able to get connected until next summer,” said Brian Bissonette, Paul Bunyan Communications Marketing Supervisor.
For more than 70 years, Paul Bunyan Communications has brought the latest communications technology to communities across northern Minnesota. Today, the cooperative provides high-quality, reliable Internet & WiFi services across more than 6,000 square miles, including neighboring rural communities and cities such as Buhl, Cook, Britt, Marble, Nashwauk, and Keewatin.
The cooperative will expand even further in the city of Hibbing in 2027. More information on those plans will be released once finalized.

Owatonna Planning Commission proposes zoning ordinance updates include data center definitions (Steele County)

Posted on by
Reply

Owatonna’s People’s Press reports…

The Owatonna Planning Commission is modernizing its Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance to include and better define data centers.

Greg Kruschke, the city’s community development manager, presented the updates to the planning commission during Tuesday’s meeting. He said the city of Owatonna and Owatonna Public Utilities are “not aware of and currently have no data center projects planned or under consideration.”

“We are not a good candidate for a large scale data center,” Kruschke said.

His reasoning is that the city’s 161 kilovolt transmission lines are not large enough. The city’s electrical capacity is not “overly excessive” at around 20 megawatts compared to the proposed Faribault data center’s electric load size of 120 MW. Other projects in Minnesota can have a load size of up to 1,000 MW.

They are working on definitions…

The city’s existing ordinance has no definition or use category for data centers, and the updated August draft defined data centers and split it into Enterprise and Hyper Scale with the break at 20 MW. Enterprise data centers were a permitted use in the B-2 and B-3 districts (Community Business and Central Business). Hyper Scale data centers were a conditional use in the I-1 and I-2 districts (Light Industry and Heavy Industry).

The official definition of a data center has remained the same between the August draft and October proposal: “A facility used for the storage, processing, management and distribution of digital data and information, consisting of servers, networking equipment and supporting infrastructure such as cooling systems, backup power generation and electrical equipment.”

The October proposal kept the definition of a smaller data center mostly the same, but changed the use category from Enterprise to Minor and decreased the capacity threshold from 20 MW to “up to 5 MW of total designed IT load.”

The same goes for the Hyperscale (now named Major) data center definition, but now the capacity threshold is listed as “greater than 5 MW of total designed IT load (often expanding to 100+ MW over time).”

EVENT Nov 9: Hearing on data center proposal in Monticello (Wright County)

Posted on by
Reply

Monticello Times reports...

Residents will have another opportunity to weigh in on a proposed 550-acre data center campus when the Monticello City Council holds a public hearing Monday, Nov. 9, on a series of land-use applications that could determine whether the controversial project moves forward.

The council meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the Mississippi Room at the Monticello Community Center, 505 Walnut St.

The city has moved the meeting’s start time up by 30 minutes from the council’s usual 6:30 p.m. start in anticipation of a lengthy meeting.

The council will consider applications for the proposed Edmonson Business Center, a large-scale technology campus planned south of 85th Street NE and east of Highway 25.

 

Hermantown City Council rescheduled again to vote on several items related to Google data center (St Louis County)

Posted on by
Reply

MPR reports…

The city of Hermantown has rescheduled a City Council meeting for Friday at 6:30 p.m. to vote on several key agreements for a controversial Google data center proposed in northeast Minnesota near Duluth.

The new date and time come after Hermantown officials canceled a Monday meeting following two hours of loud chanting and protests from data center opponents outside the City Council chambers. Afterwards, city officials said there was no way to continue that meeting safely.

The city initially rescheduled the meeting for Tuesday night. Then officials canceled that meeting as well amid concerns that it could interfere with early voting that takes place in the council chambers.

The Friday night meeting will be streamed online to allow residents to watch, an option that hasn’t been available for previous meetings. But in-person attendance will be limited to the first 85 visitors in the council chambers, “per the Fire Department,” according to the city’s press release announcing the rescheduled meeting.

Pine Island City Council ends data center litigation between MCEA and Google and mandates a new environmental assessment (Goodhue County)

Posted on by
Reply

MPR reports…

A controversial proposed Google data center in Pine Island will be the first in Minnesota to undergo a new, more-robust environmental review as part of a lawsuit settlement reached this week.

The data center, known as Project Skyway, has been on hold for months after the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) filed a lawsuit, arguing that the original environmental review of the proposal wasn’t thorough enough. The nonprofit said that Google failed to disclose basic information about the project, including its size, scale and projected water and energy use.

The settlement, approved in a unanimous vote by the Pine Island City Council on Wednesday, puts an end to the litigation involving the city, MCEA and Ryan Companies, the project developer. It mandates a new environmental assessment under the supervision of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

More articles on the topic:

Carlton County places a one-year moratorium on data centers starting Aug 2026

Posted on by
Reply

From the Carlton County interim ordinance...

This Ordinance places a one-year pause on the creation or expansion of data centers in Carlton County, pursuant to Minnesota Statutes 394.34. The purpose of this pause is to protect the planning process as the County studies data centers and their impacts and its official controls and the need for possible amendments to its official controls to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of citizens. Additionally, this ordinance will allow time for the completion of the County’s Comprehensive Land Use Planning process that began in 2025.

Big Stone County Commissioners adopted a temporary moratorium on new data centers

Posted on by
Reply

I’m catching up on some “missed” data center news in the last few months as I’m working on compiled data by county. For example, in September, Citizenportal reported…

Big Stone County Commissioners unanimously adopted Ordinance 02-26, placing a temporary moratorium on new data centers after a public hearing in which no members of the public spoke; the ordinance was adopted at the Aug. 18 meeting.

Minnesota DNR warns hunters and anglers to avoid AI for researching season open and close dates

Posted on by
Reply

Outdoor News reports…

The Minnesota DNR Division of Enforcement is urging residents to find season dates and information on its website or in hunting and fishing regulations rather than simply following AI prompts via Google or other search engines.
In recent months, more citizens are using Artificial Intelligence tools to find information about hunting and fishing seasons. Unfortunately, the information that the so-called large-language models scrape from the Internet isn’t always accurate.

I just can’t resist any article related broadband and hunting, hockey or the State Fair. But it is a reminder to double check information before going into the woods.

Cannon Falls City Council approves final plat for data center development (Goodhue County)

Posted on by
Reply

The Cannon Falls Beacon reports…

The Cannon Falls City Council approved the final plat for the data center development as part of its consent agenda during its Oct. 6 meeting. Then at the Oct. 20 meeting, the council approved upgrades for Cannon Falls TV Cable Access’ Cablecast system despite opposition from council member Lisa Zimmerman.

More info on the data center…

Prior to the vote approving the final plat for the data center, two residents spoke during public input. Both asked the council to vote against the final plat approval to put a pause on the project to allow for more studies and a third party to look over everything.

Council member Diane Johnson had just one question before the vote to approve the consent agenda which included the final plat approval.

“Clarification on the final plat approval, if the city administrator or zoning person could clarify that all the conditions that were noted in the preliminary plat have been met in the final plat?” asked Johnson.

“The final plat is in substantial conformance with the preliminary plat, so all of the conditions from the preliminary approval have been met for this final plat application,” replied License and Permit Technician Izzy Carlson.

“In addition, the recommendations from the city engineer related to items for the utility plan have been met as well and we feel that we’re in the position that we are satisfied moving forward with that to align with the development agreement and the approval of the final plat,” added City Administrator Jon Radermacher.

The preliminary plat for the data center was approved back on Oct. 21, 2025. Generally, the preliminary plat sets out conditions that the developer needs to meet in order for the final plat to be approved and if those conditions are met, as Carlson said they were, municipalities rarely vote against it. Denial of a final plat for reasons outside of not meeting the preliminary plat conditions or following the requisite timeline has resulted in legal action in Minnesota.

Hermantown City Council cancelled rescheduled meeting on data centers (St Louis County)

Posted on by
Reply

Fox 9 reports…

The Hermantown City Council was poised to approve a Google data center in its community Monday night, until protesters disrupted the meeting to the point where city officials opted to delay it.

It had been rescheduled to Tuesdays…

Hermantown city officials announced Tuesday that the evening council meeting has been canceled “amid concerns the meeting would impact early voting. Officials say early voting is occurring in council chambers until 7 p.m. on Oct. 27. The decision reflects the desire to ensure safe, secure entry and exit for voters without overlap with arriving meeting attendees. Respect for the voting process and those who choose to participate in early voting is paramount.”

Member of MN Citizens Utility Board question whether current data center proposals will comply with Minnesota law

Posted on by
Reply

The Midway Monitor posts a column from James Birr of the Citizens Utility Board…

Data centers are top of mind for Minnesotans, and two proposed projects from Google continue to cause controversy: the Pine Island data center and the Hermantown data center. Just this month, Google has made its projected energy use public. Minnesotans finally have a sense of how much electricity these two projects will need to operate, and it’s a massive amount.
The Pine Island data center will require 780 megawatts (MW) of electricity, and the Hermantown data center will require 500 MW. To put that into perspective, a general rule of thumb is that 100 MW can power about 80,000 typical American homes. These data centers’ combined need for 1280 MW of electricity is roughly equal to the power use of more than 1 million households. That’s almost half the total number of households in Minnesota.

How these data centers will receive, generate, and pay for that electricity is determined by utility tariffs and electric service agreements (ESAs) between the company and the utility serving it. The Hermantown data center will be served by Minnesota Power, and the Pine Island data center will be served by Xcel Energy. These agreements are complicated, and have been used to withhold important information from the public. Even after signing non-disclosure agreements, CUB does not have full access to all the information we’d need to properly review Google’s ESA with Xcel.
Nevertheless, CUB’s team has reviewed the proposed electric service agreements and we’ve concluded that what’s been proposed would fail to comply with Minnesota law and fall short of covering the data centers’ costs. CUB has filed this analysis with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, along with our recommendations of how Google’s utility contracts must change so that ratepayers aren’t left covering its costs.
This article covers the latest regulatory updates regarding Google’s proposed data center projects in Hermantown and Pine Island. To get a full picture of how data centers could impact Minnesota ratepayers, visit CUB’s Data Center page below.

Data centers consumed 4.4% of US electricity use in 2023

Posted on by
Reply

KTTC reports on data centers, starting with concise description of different types of data centers…

Cloud Data Centers are the facilities your personal data touches the most often. These data centers are very large facilities commonly run by cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft (Asure), IBM Cloud, or other public cloud providers. They support massive databases, workloads, and global scalability that social media networks and platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Netflix rely on.

Enterprise Data Centers are private facilities that companies and corporations either own or rent to handle their own sensitive data or host in-house services. These can be small or large facilities or rent out portions of larger data center facilities.

Colocation Data Centers are what we call facilities that share space with multiple companies. “Colo” data centers handle the infrastructure (the building, cooling, bandwidth, security, etc.) so companies can use the equipment as they need or store their specific equipment.

Hyperscalers are the massive facilities that AI companies primarily use because they are designed specifically to allow for the processing and handling of massive amounts of data and compute. These facilities are the ones that tend to house hundreds of thousands of GPUs that allow services like Chat GPT and Claude to function at the scale they do.

Edge Data Centers are the smallest form of data center and are typically found on location of local users or in a smaller, decentralized facility nearby. There are many cases when companies don’t need a whole data center and instead just need a few servers to handle their data; this is where Edge centers come into play.

The article outlines electricity use…

It’s estimated that the “global datasphere” in 2025 (data created, captured or replicated across global infrastructure) was around 175 zettabytes of data. That’s 175,000,000,000,000 gigabytes that all requires electricity to process.

According to a 2021 study, it’s estimated that U.S. data centers consumed about 1.8% of U.S. electricity. It’s worth noting this study uses data from 2018-2020, so just before the AI boom.

U.S. data centers consumed about 176 TWh of electricity in 2023 (4.4% of U.S. electricity), driven largely by AI workloads and accelerated data-center expansion, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Including electricity impact on water use…

It’s estimated that about 75% of water impacts occur through electricity generation involved with data centers while the remaining 25% is actually used onsite.

Data centers in MN have received $1+ billion in tax breaks since 2015

Posted on by
Reply

KSTP TV reports…

Minnesota has quietly provided more than $1 billion in tax breaks to data centers over the past decade, subsidizing everything from computer equipment and software to electricity and cooling systems.

The tax incentive, originally created to attract and grow the data center industry in Minnesota, has been used by 42 facilities across the state.

Right now, the data centers receiving the exemptions are smaller facilities on corporate campuses scattered around the Twin Cities metro or are run by third parties that rent space to businesses.

But as developers pursue much larger, hyperscale data centers in communities across Minnesota, some lawmakers and residents question whether the anticipated growth in this public investment will deliver enough benefits to justify the cost.

State data reviewed by 5 INVESTIGATES shows the Minnesota Department of Revenue processed nearly $1.02 billion in sales tax exemptions for data centers since 2015.

Google data center vote postponed in Hermantown to 7:30pm Oct 27

Posted on by
Reply

MPR reports…

Following two hours of nonstop chanting and protests, the Hermantown City Council on Monday night postponed a series of votes on whether to give final local approval to a controversial proposed Google data center just outside Duluth.

It’s the latest indication of just how contentious proposed data centers have become in Minnesota and across the nation in advance of the midterm election, as tech giants rush to build the giant computer server farms that are needed to power artificial intelligence.

The drama began just before the council meeting was scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Hundreds of people had crammed into Hermantown’s city hall to attend the special meeting. Most couldn’t squeeze into the small council chambers and instead were routed to a large overflow room.

Dozens of people lined up to sign up to speak. But many were still in line when the sign-up ended before the meeting was scheduled to begin.

Nearly 100 people began chanting “Let us speak!” outside the council chambers. After a half-hour of nonstop chanting, protesters began shouting “Shut it down!”

Eventually the meeting was postponed…

After two hours, city leaders announced the meeting would be postponed until Tuesday, and they said people had 10 minutes to disperse or they would be arrested. Protesters erupted in cheers.

Postponed for a day…

Hermantown assistant city administrator Joe Wicklund said city officials decided to postpone the meeting because they couldn’t guarantee a safe event.

Northern News Now reports on the upcoming meeting…

 The council meeting originally scheduled for 6:30pm Monday was called and immediately adjourned and rescheduled for 7:30pm Tuesday, according to our crew on scene.

We will continue to provide updates right here and on our Facebook page.