SpaceX is planning a 747-acre data center campus in Cochise County and has requested a special use authorization to develop the project on two properties under Rural (RU-4) land use and zoning guidelines.
The project is officially referred to as the Cochise Supercomputer Campus. The entity that filed the application is Tombstone Resources, LLC.
The proposed six-gigawatt data center would be the third-largest in the United States, by scale, according to a local news report. It would also easily be the largest in Arizona, coming in at approximately six times larger than the Project Blue proposal in Pima County.
The developer’s application contains extensive supporting materials, including a conceptual site plan, project narrative, and analyses of utility requirements, water use, fire protection and other considerations. Site-specific studies are ongoing and will be guided by County requirements.
SpaceX’s concept calls for nine data center buildings, a battery energy storage system, natural-gas-fired backup generators capable of 90MW, and support buildings and yard areas. Development would take several years and be stretched across four phases, with phases overlapping each other, according to the application narrative.
Beyond the emotional opposition data centers have generated in recent years, power and water consumption are fundamental operational challenges. The submitted materials and a presentation at a Nov. 4 community meeting outline the plans to address the utility needs.
The campus will be served by the Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative and Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, and the company will invest an estimated $3.6B to upgrade the power grid. Under the request and electricity plan, AEPCO would provide wholesale power generation and transmission, while SSVEC would provide retail electric service. Both utilities have provided statements stating their willingness to work with the developer to address power needs.
For comparison, the Arizona Republic report estimates at full buildout, the overall demand could require roughly 2.5 times the power needed for all the data centers currently operating in Maricopa County.
While precise details of the power expansion plan are still outstanding, SpaceX’s proposed investment is intended to expand the Apache Generation Station’s power capacity to more than six gigawatts. Current capacity is approximately one gigawatt.
Another concern is the site’s relative proximity to the Wilcox Playa, which is located “a few thousand” feet away from the campus location. The Wilcox Playa is a landing spot for the Sandhill Crane, which is a federally protected species. The developer acknowledges the concern in the application materials and says it has designed the campus to ensure the birds are not harmed. The company is working with the Arizona Game and Fish Department on additional plan details.
Riley Trettle, who leads SpaceX’s energy and supercomputer department, told attendees at the meeting the development “would reduce residents’ electricity bills, lower property taxes by 20% and create some 1,000 permanent jobs,” according to a media report.
SpaceX estimates the development will provide Cochise County with a $250M one-time sales tax benefit and between $35M and $103M in sales tax revenue.
Addressing the ever-present but generally misunderstood water consumption concern of modern data centers, which is a routine rallying point for opponents, the application materials explain the development’s server cooling towers will employ dry-cooling technology.
A total of between three- and five-million-gallons of water will be used to fill the tower on a one-time basis. Regular campus operations, such as running water and sanitation services for staff, will require between two- and three-million-gallons/year, which is significantly less than surrounding agricultural uses currently require. The ongoing water needs are equal to between 20 and 30 standard homes.
Since the plan calls for using treated wastewater from the Apache Generating Station or bringing in water from an as-yet-unnamed outside provider, there will not be a need for a new water well in the Wilcox Active Management Area, the proposal materials say.
While the Nov. 4 meeting had hecklers and attendees opposed to data centers in any capacity, according to the Republic, there was also an appreciable volume of attendees in support and others seeking more information before making up their minds.
While a generic petition has garnered more than 2,000 signatures expressing opposition, and an opposition website has already been launched, the scope of the application materials and SpaceX’s apparent transparency has so far appeared to moderate at least some of the expected opposition volume.
The Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing Dec. 9.
