US Energy Secretary, Visiting Iowa, Says Data Centers Will Drive Energy Production

Decorah Vikings win, City Council votes, New Referenda on the ballot — we're the one telling Decorah's story. Donate now. CEDAR RAPIDS — U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Friday in Iowa that supporting data centers being built in the U.S. was critical to "reindustrialization" efforts touted by the Trump administration. Wright made his comments while visiting a data center being built in Cedar Rapids, where he emphasized the importance of generating more power to support these efforts. The company QTS Data Centers is currently constructing a 612-acre, seven-building data center campus within the Big Cedar Industrial Center area of Cedar Rapids. When the project began in 2025, QTS, owned by Blackstone Group, projected a $10 billion investment and the creation of 2,000 construction and permanent jobs at the Cedar Rapids campus. As Wright visited the site Friday, business leaders said there are currently 8,500 laborers working on the construction. Wright told the group of workers, business leaders, and Iowa elected officials at the event that the construction of the current largest industrial project in the state fit perfectly in President Donald Trump's vision for how to revive manufacturing in the country. Wright, from Colorado, said his home state and Iowa are both considered "flyover" country, but now will be the global home of "emerging industries" like artificial intelligence through projects like the QTS campus. "The President Trump agenda is, we're going to lean in, we're not going to go slow, we're not going to nudge us toward manufacturing again — we're going to do whatever it takes. His terms to me and everyone in the Cabinet is, 'whatever you must do to attract massive amounts of capital and massive amounts of reindustrialization in the United States, do that. If there's barriers, barrel through those barriers, and make it happen.'" As more and more data centers are constructed around the U.S., more people are expressing concerns about these facilities being constructed in their communities, as some centers use a significant amount of energy, potentially contributing to rising electricity prices, and could have larger environmental impacts, especially due to water use. But QTS and Iowa leaders emphasized they were taking steps to mitigate these concerns at the Cedar Rapids facility. QTS Co-CEO Tag Greason said the Cedar Rapids facility will use a "closed loop" water system — meaning the water used to cool servers and computers will be recirculated instead of being evaporated. He, as well as Alliant Energy CEO Lisa Barton, also said the project is committed to keeping energy costs low in the Cedar Rapids area by implementing a five-year rate freeze on electricity costs for existing customers. After that rate freeze expires in 2030, Greason said QTS aims to support keeping electricity costs low by supporting the expansion of energy generation in the community. "Further investment in new generation is very important — continued investment in our transmission," Greason said. "And QTS has raised our hand to continue, during the operation, to make sure that we're investing in upgrades and things that are required to keep this project under control." Diversifying and increasing energy production is part of a larger "reindustrialization" push, Wright said, noting data center construction across the country has often been met with an expansion of local energy production. "I think that's across the country. Everywhere we're building large new manufacturing and large data centers, you'll see an end to the rise in electricity prices and a pathway to ultimately declining them downwards," Wright said. "New power plants that will be built here are natural gas, so super high efficiency burning, very small footprint for where those plants are. It's by far the largest electric generating source in the United States. And of course, it works in great concert with wind power. Iowa is a huge producer of wind power. So, the key thing about energy is to have diversity." Wright endorses state nuclear energy proposalThe federal Department of Energy and members of the Trump administration have also been supportive of efforts to expand nuclear energy production. Wright said he supported a state legislative proposal to provide nuclear energy facilities an exemption on sales and use taxes, which was proposed as the company NextEra Energy works to restart the decommissioned Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo. Wright said the U.S. Department of Energy "will likely be a partner in the restart of the Duane Arnold plant if that goes forward." "I really hope it does, because nuclear provides electricity whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing," Wright said. "A lot of those plants got closed earlier than they should have been closed, and it's cheaper and faster to restart a recently closed plant than it is to build a new one. I think it would be great for Iowa, great for the United States electricity grid, to get that Duane Arnold plant going, and certainly the U.S. government and our Department of Energy will be partners with the local utility if they want to do that." He said the federal department would be able to provide low-interest loans to the local utility or other entity investing in the effort to restart a nuclear facility, saying the DOE would be able to match each dollar of investment in the project with $3 to $4 of "low-cost debt," as well as providing "technical expertise from the department" on nuclear technologies. Wright last visited Iowa in 2025, when he toured the Ames National Laboratory and spoke on development and research efforts in Iowa for clean energy sources. During that visit, he also said he supported provisions in the "big, beautiful" budget reconciliation law ending or limiting federal subsidies for the solar and wind energy industries. Answering questions from reporters Friday, Wright said he remained supportive of these changes and believed the wind energy industry will still continue to grow in states like Iowa. "In places with great wind resources, Iowa is one of those … you'll probably still see wind power built," Wright said. "But it definitely got built too many places, too far, and it got forced on the grid in a lot of states, and it pushed up electricity prices. Fortunately, that didn't happen here in Iowa. I think you had more sensible policies here. But getting rid of the subsidies — the industry should be able to run on its own, and I believe it will." 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