Minnesota’s regulations on power consumption are being put to the test after a clash with the tech giant Amazon. The company has plans to build a data center in Becker. A data center is a physical location that stores computers and equipment.

Large companies like Amazon use data centers to compute enormous amounts of information. Those computers require a lot of energy to run.

State utility regulators are pumping the breaks on the Becker center with concerns over backup generators Amazon included in its proposal.

Jessica Hellman is the executive director of the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment. She joined MPR News host Nina Moini to explore the environmental debate and implications for the data center.