- Residents in Osceola County, Florida, say plans for a new “hyperscale data center” will impact wildlife and water reserves
- The area has been hit with multiple new developments over recent years, changing the traditional farmland into homes and industry
- If accepted, the proposed 2,200-acre site would occupy an area larger than New York’s Central Park
A proposed giant data center is set to add to the woes of Florida residents who have been hit with multiple developments in recent years. As farmland is redeveloped for housing and jobs, the citizens of Osceola County have learned that this single development is set to dwarf them all: at over 2,000 acres, it will be larger than Central Park in New York.
Development for the site is being offered to hyperscalers, with the property listed online from July 2026. Power is already arranged, with regional power company Duke Energy confirmed as able to supply the completed facility with the required electricity.
Local residents already worried about expanding housing developments and outdated infrastructure radically changing the landscape of the area where they grew up have also expressed concern over the impact to local wildlife.
Hyperscaler data center
The ecological footprint of these types of development are regularly front-page news, bringing the benefit of construction jobs and local supply chain benefits alongside an immediate impact to wildlife and water. And then there are the problems with noise.
For an area like Osceola County, where until recently comparatively little had changed for decades, the arrival of a hyperscale data center would represent the biggest change yet.
Wildlife, infrastructure, and leaders
Angelo Chiarelli is a local resident and conservation photographer whose work has charted the shrinking habitats around Osceola. “It’s a wake-up call,” he says. “It truly is, about just this way of life of these ranchers and people like me that just come out and take photographs, like it won’t be here.”
With other developments hitting local infrastructure (one local business owner notes it takes longer to travel around Osceola), the impact of constructing a data center is met with apprehension. Concerns about water seem to be shared by Duke Energy, too, which has highlighted that its ability to deploy energy to the site rely on the availability of “significant water resources.”
This means it could be time for residents to take their concerns to the leaders of Osceola County. Florida law puts the decision for developments such as this in the hands of local leaders. Whether this means the residents will put pressure on the district County Commission to reject the hyperscaler development remains to be seen.
