Data-center law in Wisconsin

Wis. Stat. § 62.23

Applies to both

Authorizes a city council to adopt and amend zoning ordinances, grant conditional use permits and special exceptions, and maintain a board of appeals; a data center's zoning approval, conditional use permit, or rezoning proceeds under this section's grant of power. The section has been amended many times since its original enactment, and a specific first-commencement day for the current zoning grant of power is not confirmed in the primary text read.

Source: Full text of law

Wis. Stat. § 196.491(3)

Applies to both

No person may commence construction of a large electric generating facility, or an associated high-voltage transmission line requiring its own certificate, without a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Public Service Commission; a data center's own on-site generation above the statute's size threshold, or new utility generation or transmission built to serve it, proceeds through this certificate process.

No large-load-specific tariff or interconnection provision was located in this section as of the date shown, and a specific first-commencement day for the current certificate requirement is not confirmed in the primary text read.

Source: Full text of law

Wis. Stat. § 101.12

Applies to both

Requires submission of essential drawings, calculations, and specifications for public buildings, public structures, and places of employment, including heating, ventilation, and fire-detection or suppression systems, for examination by the Department of Safety and Professional Services (or a certified municipal examiner) before construction begins; a data center's commercial building permit issues under this plan-review framework. A specific first-commencement day for the current text is not confirmed in the primary text read.

Source: Full text of law

Wis. Stat. § 285.60

Applies to both

No person may commence construction, reconstruction, replacement, or modification of a stationary source without a construction permit from the Department of Natural Resources, and an operation permit is separately required; a data center's backup generator fleet permits as a stationary source under this section, subject to registration or general-permit tracks for smaller emitters. A specific first-commencement day for the current permit structure is not confirmed in the primary text read.

Source: Full text of law

Wis. Stat. §§ 77.54(70), 238.40

Applies to private

Exempts from sales and use tax the purchase, storage, use, or consumption of tangible personal property used exclusively for the development, construction, renovation, expansion, replacement, repair, or operation of a "qualified data center" as defined in Wis. Stat. § 238.40(1)(b), including computer server equipment, networking equipment, racks, cabling, backup generation equipment, and electricity, plus property used in a related water cooling or conservation system, and property a construction contractor incorporates into the data center.

To be a qualified data center, the buildings must be certified by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and must create a minimum qualified investment within 5 years of certification that scales with the population of the host county: $150,000,000 in a county over 100,000 population, $100,000,000 in a county of 50,001 to 100,000, or $50,000,000 in a county of 50,000 or fewer (the most populous county's threshold controls where the data center spans more than one county); the Corporation must revoke certification, subject to contractual recapture provisions, if the investment threshold is not met, though it may grant an extension.

Both provisions were created by 2023 Wisconsin Act 19, the 2023-2025 biennial budget act (enacted July 5, 2023, published July 6, 2023). The current statute text defines "eligible data center costs" as expenditures made after October 1, 2023, but that date is a substantive eligibility threshold rather than a stated legislative commencement date for the section itself, and a specific commencement day for these sections is not confirmed in the primary text.

Source: Full text of law