It is pretty hard to run a data center without power and hydroelectric is some of the lowest cost power around. KomoNews has an AP article on the 240 MW upgrade planned for Eastern Washington Grand Coulee Dam.

Part of the rehabilitation work will be efforts to boost the three smaller power generators to a capacity of 770 megawatts of power each, Vick said. That would produce 240 more megawatts of power. The three larger generator plants cannot have their capacity expanded in a cost-effective way, Vick said.

Besides upgrading the generators there is a bunch of other work to upgrade the surrounding infrastructure.

The 18 underground cables are oil-filled and pose a danger to catch fire as they age, Vick said.

An $18.5 million project currently under way will replace those underground cables with overhead power lines, suspended from towers that are up to 350 feet tall, Vick said. The new lines will be finished by December, he said.

Numerous smaller projects are also under way to modernize power production at the dam, including renovations of elevators, cranes, transformers and other equipment. A 200,000-square foot storage building is under construction.