Data centers in West Des Moines, Iowa

“If these corn fields dissapeared, I would be devastated,” Nathan Poole, of West Des Moines, said in his backyard while clearing tree branches and burning them down in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday, Aug. "There is no such thing as quiet anymore," Phoebe Spieker said as lights from Microsoft’s Project Osmium shine across from her house and she wipes the morning dew off her car’s sideview mirror as her and her husband leave for… A group of horses graze in the grass of a farm a few miles away from Microsoft’s Project Osmium, a data center, in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug.

“I was constantly worried about getting hit, but not now,” Nancy Deimerly, of West Des Moines, said as she pulls weeds in her front yard in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. When construction of Microsoft’s Project… Margaret VanGinkel, of West Des Moines, picks vegetables from her garden in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug.

She grows peppers, peaches, apples, flowers and tomatoes and makes homemade salsas and jars the fruit. “They stay on their side of the line, and we stay on ours,” Gary Gehrke, of West Des Moines, said as he mows his backyard in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. Nancy Diemerly, of West Des Moines, peeks through her garden to find one of her cats in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug.

Diemerly lives next door to Microsoft’s Project Osmium, a data center. “They took the best nine holes of this course,” Mel Hollingsworth, of Irving, Iowa, said as he hits the ball while playing golf at Willow Creek Golf Course in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, Aug. A group of cyclists ride past Microsoft’s Project Osmium in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, Aug.

When the center was announced in 2016, it was proposed to be the largest data center ever built by Microsoft, with… “We want to live someplace where we can live,” Kim Jellema, of West Des Moines, said in her barn on her property in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday, Aug. Jellema lives close to Project Osmium, a large-scale…

From left, Mike Witte, Dave Capaska and Mike Sarno laugh as David Smith, right, shares a story at Waveland Cafe in Booneville, Iowa, a small town located near Microsoft’s Project Ginger West, outside of West Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday,… Construction workers work on the roof of Microsoft’s Project Ginger West in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday, Aug. Construction of the data center began in 2023 and is expected to complete in 2028.