BARKER — Plans for the next phase of construction for the Lake Mariner Data Center are another step closer to getting the green light from Somerset.
Last week, representatives from the data center’s parent company Terawulf appeared in front of the town planning board to pitch the development of four new buildings to host an artificial intelligence data center on a portion of the former coal-fired electric generation station site.
Currently the company has four buildings that house bitcoin mining facilities that spans 30 acres on the site. Work on a fifth building is expected to be completed next year.
“Obviously that area sat idle here for for many years. So we looked at that would be a great opportunity now to utilize our artificial intelligence and do a build-out right there in an area we can repurpose,” project manager John Mirabella said.
The proposed development would span approximately 23 acres of the 400-acre plot the company owns.
“We’d also have some switch gear buildings and some dry cooler yards consisting of chillers, dry coolers, you know, just set a glycol closed loop system to be able to cool these data servers,” Mirabella said.
The buildings would require an additional 20 megawatts of electricity to operate, he added.
Currently, the company has approval for a 250-megawatt power allocation, 90% hydropower from the New York Power Authority and the rest from NYSEG, with the potential to increase to 500 megawatts, pending approval from the state.
When TeraWulf sought site approval from the town planning board in 2021, the proposal drew concerns from residents including the prospect of noise from fans used to cool the buildings. The company has performed two separate noise studies, but complaints are still being fielded from some town residents.
The subject was a common topic of questioning amongst several of the board members and company personnel at Thursday night’s meeting.
“I’ve lived in my house for 35 years. So I was there when the power plant was running at full bore and it was at night, not as bothersome as it is now. I think part of the problem is it’s steady now. It’s not peak and valley noise,” board member Krista Atwater said.
“We had a meter in the middle of the site. Then we had meters off our site in various locations. We dropped the noise. The meter on our site dropped. The meters around the other locations didn’t move, so whatever noise they were picking up wasn’t from the site. We did this specifically so we could figure out what to fix if there’s something to fix,” project manager Jerry Goodenough said.
According to Goodenough, the company is considering the installation of different blades on fans in an effort to reduce noise and noted the town’s building inspector visits the site once every month to monitor construction.
Representatives from the company will also pitch their plans to the Niagara County Planning Board on Oct. 21.
A public hearing on the local law to amend the planned unit development to allow the development of the AI data center will be held by the town board on Oct. 30.
If the town board approvals the amendment, the planning board can then approve the proposed site plan at their November business meeting.
Currently, Lake Mariner Data has 22 employees, a majority of which worked at the former coal plant. Goodenough estimated with the buildout of the AI data center, that would increase to 35-40 employees.