By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
Fresh on the heels of the August Leading Market Series event on Advanced Manufacturing, BEX Research staff has uncovered plans for a new 1.3MSF data center as part of the Hermosa Ranch Technology Park Master Plan.
The 308.9-acre master plan site, located south of the SWC of Avondale Blvd. and Lower Buckeye Road, is currently going through review for a Planned Area Development rezoning and General Plan Amendment. According to the submitted narrative for Hermosa Ranch Technology Campus – South, where the data center will be located, “The Property is currently zoned PAD as part of the approximately 245-acre Diamond P Ranch (Case No. Z-07-4). The Hermosa Ranch Technology Campus – South PAD will replace the existing PAD zoning on the southern seventy-eight (78) acres of the undeveloped Diamond P Ranch and provide employment opportunities in a planned employment corridor.”
The Avondale Planning Commission recommended against an earlier request last November due to concerns about impacts to the surrounding residential areas and the potential for putting too much strain on area water supplies. Project representatives at the time noted the project’s potential for a net zero level of water use due to a closed loop water system.
Avondale City Council voted to withdraw the application in its December 13th meeting. A new request was submitted in May, following a pre-submittal meeting held on April 27th.
The evolution of water use technology and the difficulties in overcoming stigmas associated with the inefficiency and massive water demands of older data center designs were key takeaways from the data center portion of last week’s LMS event.
JLL Capital Markets Group Sr. Director Carl Beardsley – whose team focuses on data center opportunities – explained the improved process to the attendees. “There are a lot of headlines about, ‘They use so much water.’ That’s something we’re dealing with every day, as far as getting new entitlements,” he said.
“The older school data centers – especially in arid climates… – you would use certain cooling methods that would use a lot of water – evaporative cooling. It’s more efficient. It’s cheaper… That’s flowing through to the end user as bad perception of, obviously, using so many resources that are constrained,” Beardsley said. “So, everyone’s shifted to a new cooling technology of closed water loops, where you really just fill the water once and you use the same water over and over to cool.”
According to Beardsley, the old technology can regularly use 120 million gallons of water/month, versus as little as one million for a closed loop system.
Data Center Details
The data center proponent consists of approximately 1.3MSF of data center uses across five two-story buildings. The project description states, “The buildings will utilize modern architecture and design techniques to create visual interest and the proposed complex will utilize data center industry best practices closed-loop cooling system technology. Access will be provided by two driveways off of Avondale Boulevard. Internal vehicular circulation is efficiently designed with parking adjacent to each building.”
The data center will be served by a dedicated 256KSF substation planned on the NWC of the property next to Salt River Project’s existing Rudd Substation and will have a dedicated gated entry. An approximately 250MW battery energy storage system from Plus Power is planned as an extension of the existing substation.
No hearing dates have been announced.
