Why Should Delaware Care?
The growth of data centers has become a hotly contested topic in Delaware and nationally, because the facilities, which power the technology of the future, require huge amounts of electricity. New regulations on the industry approved by New Castle County are the first of their kind in the state.
New Castle County Executive Marcus Henry signed new data center regulations into law Wednesday, a week after the county council’s near unanimous approval of the legislation.
In a statement, Henry described the regulations as a “thoughtful compromise.”
It followed months of bitter debate within the council that included one meeting during which a council member flipped the middle finger at another. At stake is the potential for thousands of future construction jobs and property tax proceeds, but the projects come with significant concerns, principally how they would impact energy rates and water capacity for consumers.
“This ordinance is the result of people coming together, listening to one another, and doing the hard work of finding common ground,” Henry said in his statement.
The sweeping legislation includes new rules that require data centers to maintain buffer zones around them, and to use energy-efficient backup generators, among other regulations.
Councilman Dave Carter first proposed the regulations last summer amid a backlash to a developer’s plan to build a massive, power-hungry data center on about 580 acres north of Delaware City.
Many residents and elected officials feared the facility, if built, would harm the local environment and exacerbate an energy crunch that was already impacting the region.
While the newly passed regulations are, in part, an effort to respond to those concerns, the Delaware City data center will not be subject to them. The council’s compromise included a provision that made the rules only apply to newly proposed projects – not ones already in the development pipeline.
What do the regulations say?
In the final amended ordinance, Carter included concessions on noise regulations, and on lighting regulations by deferring to existing standards for industrial projects rather than imposing stricter rules.
The final rules also clearly outline how data centers are allowed to use water to cool their supercomputers. The ordinance states that data centers must use a closed-loop cooling system, which is designed to reuse as much water as possible. By mandating such systems, Carter said data centers could reduce their water and energy use.
The regulations also require data center projects to be at least 1,000 feet from the nearest residential dwelling, unless a developer submits a noise study to the county. They could then build them within 500 feet of a home.
Data center developers also must set aside funds to decommission the data center if they decide to no longer operate it.
Where do the data center projects stand?
The regulations approved Tuesday will not impact the handful of data center projects that have already been proposed – including the facility near Delaware City, dubbed Project Washington.
Still, that massive project does face other obstacles. Last month, Delaware environmental regulators ruled that half of the two-part plan is not allowed under the state’s Coastal Zone Act, because of its proposed use of 516 diesel generators for back-up power.
The developer, Starwood Digital Ventures, has appealed that ruling with a challenge that could take months, or years, to be fully adjudicated.
A hearing of Starwood’s appeal will take place next Tuesday.
Get Involved
The public is free to attend the hearing of the Starwood appeal, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday at the auditorium of the Richardson and Robbins building, located at 89 Kings Highway in Dover. DNREC said a link for virtual attendance will be listed here. Those wishing to provide public comment must register by emailing the address DNREC_CZICB_Appeals@delaware.gov no later than Monday.
For another possible data center development project near the St. Georges Bridge, the Coastal Zone Act could also become an obstacle. But it is unclear whether the new county regulations would apply to the proposal. The development was introduced to the county prior to the passage of the new rules, but those original plans called for a warehouse not a data center.
The project’s engineering firm, Verdantas, indicated in recent documents filed with the county that the developer may now be planning to build a data center.
New Castle County’s Land Use Department did not respond to a request for comment about whether the regulations would apply to the St. Georges Bridge project, and Carter said he is not sure.
“We have to work that out and see where it goes,” Carter said.
A third proposed data center site near Newark has, perhaps, the easiest path now that the regulations, and their effective start date, have been determined.
That project would see the redevelopment of the White Clay Corporate Center into a three-building data center. Its zoning already allows data center projects, and it does not lie within Delaware’s designated Coastal Zone.
