Nevada, particularly Northern Nevada, is quietly morphing into the next major center of hyperscale data center growth in the U.S. Google’s $400 million expansion, Microsoft’s recent land acquisition in the city of Fernley and Vantage Data Centers investment in a 224-megawatt campus in Storey County just outside Reno have reminded Nevadans of the “Tesla Effect” seen in the Silver State in the mid-teens. That phenomenon followed the decision in 2014 to construct the automaker’s first Gigafactory in Storey County.
More about the Tesla Effect later.
At present, not just Google, but PowerHouse, Novva, EdgeCore, Switch and Tract are all in the process of operating, building or expanding enormous data centers within the privately owned 157 square mile Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, known as TRIC.
For several years, the population of Nevada and especially Northern Nevada has grown quickly, while its industrial sector has also rapidly expanded. So says Evan Slavik, president and CEO of Mark IV Capital, the developer that sold 300 acres to Microsoft to anchor its 4,300-acre industrial and logistics center in Fernley, Nev.
The surge in e-commerce and logistics demand and logistics access via highways and rail lines have done their part to spark Northern Nevada’s industrial real estate expansion. Companies locating just east of the California border can enjoy substantially lower operational costs, while at the same time benefitting from a central location with excellent access to Western U.S. population centers.
Key components
“There’s been a rising call for data centers and high-tech facilities in Northern Nevada, demonstrating the industrial growth in the region isn’t limited to distribution warehouses,” Slavik says. “Large-scale data center campuses, driven by cloud computing and AI, are locating in Northern Nevada, as the region can provide all three of the key components for such projects: Land suitable for sizable developments in the 300-acre range, high-capacity data infrastructure, and of course, access to significant amounts of power. Nevada’s low risk of natural disasters ensures uninterrupted operations, which is crucial for hyperscale data centers and logistic hubs.”
Being developed are large-scale solar, wind, geothermal and energy storage projects, buttressed by a new grid infrastructure, including state utility NV Energy’s Greenlink West. This enormous, multi-billion-dollar transmission line project is intended to span 350 miles from North Las Vegas to Reno and make possible statewide access to solar and wind power. Greenlink West will transport renewable energy, lower power bills and enhance green energy availability and dependability for industrial centers.
Naysayers’ concerns
The growth of the data center industry in Northern Nevada has not been without its detractors. On the minds of many, particularly environmentalists, are concerns about the pressures placed upon the state’s water supply – already the nation’s most limited cache of H2O – by data centers’ operational demand for large quantities of water.
Also of concern are higher carbon emissions resulting from growing dependence on fossil fuels to power data centers. The use of diesel generators to produce backup power needed during power outages represents another worry for environmental groups, as is data centers’ “heat island” impact on metropolitan areas like Reno.
One more issue regards possibly uncertain economic results of the data center boom, including the comparatively few jobs offered by highly automated centers and low tax revenues resulting from tax abatements offered by cities to lure data center firms. To these criticisms, Slavic points to his company’s launch of the Northern Nevada Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence, aiming to build a skilled workforce by delivering hands-on workforce development training in industrial materials science.
“To support and strengthen this workforce, we’re actively bringing in retail users while collaborating with the city on master-planning efforts for North Fernley, our land north of I-80,” he says, adding plans call for the approximately 1,800-acre area to evolve into a master-planned community with thousands of homes, along with shopping, schools, parks and civic uses, “creating a vibrant neighborhood for Fernley’s new residents who will be working in our facilities.”
And about that “Tesla Effect” cited earlier? It yielded tech and clean energy sector expansion, job creation by the thousands and stresses on infrastructure.
Article Source: forbes.com
