The coal-producing industry has taken its lumps of late, a victim of natural gas fracking and restrictions on air pollution. This October, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will finally close its outdated Widows Creek coal plant in Stevenson, Ala., which had been providing energy to the region since the 1960s, rather than knock heads with the EPA over tighter financial and environmental regulations.
That plant, located on 350 acres about 60 miles northeast of Huntsville, will be retrofitted into a data center that runs on renewable energy. Google has agreed to build this $600 million project, which would be its 14th data center globally, but the first it has committed to in eight years, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Google’s data centers in Iowa and Oklahoma run on wind power, and the Alabama facility will operate solely on renewable energy, possibly a combination of wind and solar.
The company states on its website that it has recently expanded its data centers in the states of Georgia and Iowa, as well as in Singapore and Belgium. Construction on the Alabama plant is scheduled to begin early next year and to bring between 75 and 100 jobs to Jackson County.
Google’s data centers in Iowa and Oklahoma run on wind power, and the Alabama facility will operate solely on renewable energy, possibly a combination of wind and solar, the company states. The data center will be hooked up to TVA’s electrical transmission lines, and Google will work with the Authority to run renewable energy through the latter’s electrical grid.
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley called this project “the start of a long-lasting, productive relationship with Google.” He credited the TVA’s chairman Joe Ritch for securing the project. Google will benefit from two state tax-abatement packages that stem from the passage, three years ago, of the Alabama Data Processing Center Incentive Enhancement Act, according to AL.com.
Gary Demasi, Google’s director of Global Infrastructure, said in a prepared statement that Google sees “a lot of potential in redeveloping large industrial sites like former coal plants, and we’re excited to bring a data center to Alabama.” Urs Hölzle, Google’s SVP for technical infrastructure, told the New York Times that the company would be evaluating “plausible projects” over the next 12 months.
The data center is expected to incorporate Google’s latest technology efficiencies, which allow it to get 3.5 times the computing power out of the same amount of energy, compared to five years ago.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Structure Tone, Turner among the nation's busiest reconstruction contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 75 Reconstruction Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
SSOE, Fluor among nation's largest industrial building design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Industrial Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Best AEC Firms of 2011/12
Later this year, we will launch Best AEC Firms 2012. We’re looking for firms that create truly positive workplaces for their AEC professionals and support staff. Keep an eye on this page for entry information. +
| Aug 11, 2010
Manitoba Hydro Place, Tornado Tower among world's 'best tall buildings,' according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat last week announced the winners of its annual “Best Tall Building” awards for 2009, recognizing one outstanding tall building from each of four geographical regions: Americas, Asia & Australia, Europe, and Middle East & Africa. This year’s winners are: Manitoba Hydro Place, Winnipeg, Canada; Linked Hybrid, Beijing, China; The Broadgate Tower, London, UK; Tornado Tower, Doha, Qatar.
| Aug 11, 2010
Nation's first multi-story green industrial facility opens in Brooklyn
The $25 million Perry Avenue Building at Brooklyn Navy Yard is the nation's first multi-level green industrial facility and the first building in New York City to incorporate building-mounted wind turbines. The wind turbines, along with rooftop solar panels, will provide electricity for the building's lobby and common areas.
| Aug 11, 2010
Call for entries: Building enclosure design awards
The Boston Society of Architects and the Boston chapter of the Building Enclosure Council (BEC-Boston) have announced a High Performance Building award that will assess building enclosure innovation through the demonstrated design, construction, and operation of the building enclosure.
| Aug 11, 2010
Portland Cement Association offers blast resistant design guide for reinforced concrete structures
Developed for designers and engineers, "Blast Resistant Design Guide for Reinforced Concrete Structures" provides a practical treatment of the design of cast-in-place reinforced concrete structures to resist the effects of blast loads. It explains the principles of blast-resistant design, and how to determine the kind and degree of resistance a structure needs as well as how to specify the required materials and details.
| Aug 11, 2010
Gensler, HOK, HDR among the nation's leading reconstruction design firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 100 Reconstruction Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Data center construction costs are down, according to a study by Environmental Systems Design
The current economic crisis has an up-side for owners of mission-critical facilities: On average, it costs less today to construct a new data center than it did in late 2007, according to a study by Environmental Systems Design (ESD). ESD found that the prices of feeder and cable have dropped by more than half, major data center equipment by 12%, labor and materials by 19.6%, and shipping and handling by 15% from the fourth quarter of 2007 to July 15, 2009.
