No. Renewable energy capacity is often built out specifically for datacenters.
> Even if they install solar on the roofs and wind turbines nearby - that's still electrical generation capacity that could have been used for existing loads.
No. This capacity would never never have been built out to begin with if it was not for the data center.
> By buying so many solar panels in such quantities, they affect availability and pricing of all those components.
No. Renewable energy gets cheaper with scale, not more expensive.
> which means in a year they're selling enough chips to use 700MW of power.
There are contracts for renewal capacity to be built out or well into the gigawatts. Furthermore, solar is not the only source of renewable energy. Finally, nuclear energy is also often used.
> the IC industry uses a massive amount of water
A figurative drop in the bucket.
> It's hilarious how HN will wring its hands
HN is not a monolith.