A national builder is once again proposing to construct a massive data center at Genesee County’s STAMP industrial park, one that would use so much electricity that it could drive up costs for residential and commercial consumers.
The data center’s power demands could also hamstring efforts to recruit other businesses to the industrial park, which has struggled to attract tenants despite a state investment of $100 million.
A proposal filed with Genesee County officials on Friday from Stream Data Centers for a 2.2-million-square-foot facility states it would require some 500 megawatts of electricity — 83 percent of all power that will be available at STAMP.
That amount of electricity could power nearly every home in Erie County, which has 411,500 households, according to the most recent U.S. Census data.
It could power nearly every home in Monroe, Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming counties combined. That’s Rochester, its suburbs and four surrounding counties — 400,700 households total.
Critics and environmental advocates worry a data center drawing so much power could drive up energy costs for New Yorkers by an undetermined amount. Researchers have found that data centers elsewhere in the country are contributing to a rise in electricity costs for consumers.
Electricity rates in New York state are already higher than the national average. A November analysis showed power bills in the state rank 17th highest in the nation.
The developer said in its application the data center would be leased to a Fortune 50 company, whose ranks include tech giants like Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.
While Stream Data Centers has not yet requested public subsidies, government assistance could tally hundreds of millions of dollars in the form of discounted hydropower and property and sales tax exemptions. The project is slated to create 120 jobs — two fewer than Stream’s previous proposal.
“We shouldn’t just take the lowest-hanging fruit that comes our way. We can afford to be a little picky in what we’re putting our tax dollars towards,” said Bridge Rauch, an environmental justice organizer with the Buffalo-based Clean Air Coalition, which has advocated against other data centers in the region.
“If they want to build them, they should pay the full cost of that project.”
Meanwhile, members of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation — whose territory abuts STAMP — fear the data center could harm the old-growth forest they rely on for medicinal plants and hunting, primarily due to 24/7 lights and noise emitting from the facility. The Nation also fears that stormwater runoff from Stream’s property could harm a creek that runs through its land.
The Tonawanda Senecas, earlier this year, sued Stream Data Centers and the Genesee County Economic Development Center — the local industrial development agency building STAMP — for failing to conduct a proper environmental review of a past data center proposal. Stream canceled that project — making the lawsuit moot and handing the Nation a victory — but vowed to return.
“Part of my outrage comes from the fact that the presence of a data center at STAMP has been so forcefully rejected by not only the Tonawanda Seneca Nation, but also local residents,” said Sarah Howard, an organizer with the group Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation.
“To come back with this more than twice-as-large and much more energy-intensive facility is really disrespectful of the local voices.”
In statements to Investigative Post, Mark Masse, president and CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Center, said his agency is evaluating the proposal from Stream Data, saying that “any land sales or financial incentives will be publicly considered at a later date.”
A spokesperson for Stream Data did not return a request for comment.
Earlier this year, Stream Data proposed a $6.32 billion, 900,000-square-foot data center at STAMP that would have used 250 megawatts of power, 10,000 gallons of water per day and employed 122. In March, the Genesee County Economic Development Center awarded the project a $472 million subsidy package.
The newest proposal is nearly two-and-a-half times larger at 2.2 million square feet, or 38 football fields. The data center would use 500 megawatts of power, 20,000 gallons of water per day and employ 120.
The proposal comes as the IDA has struggled to fill the 1,250-acre industrial park in the Town of Alabama, 13 miles northwest of Batavia, despite some 15 years of planning and $100 million in state grants.
Only two companies — Plug Power and Edwards Vacuum — have committed to the megasite, though Plug Power, struggling financially, recently canceled its plans. A portion of the data center campus will be built on land previously committed to Plug Power.
The IDA could earn more than $100 million in fees from the proposed data center.
The IDA is constructing a 600-megawatt substation to provide electricity to STAMP tenants. Initially, Plug Power was going to cover the cost, but with that company’s plans scuttled, the IDA was given permission by the state to redirect a $56 million grant to pay for the work. The IDA began entertaining data center firms last year in a bid to finish the substation and recoup the state grant money.
Should the 500-megawatt data center come to life, STAMP will be left with about 93 megawatts of power to offer to future tenants. The availability of hundreds of megawatts of power was a “goldmine” for the industrial park, despite its remote location, site selectors previously told Investigative Post.
Masse, of the IDA, said in a statement that 93 megawatts was plenty to market to other firms. The agency, he said, “will be able to continue to market low-cost power in our ongoing efforts to bring more companies to STAMP,” he said.
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