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 This October, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will finally close its outdated Widows Creek coal plant in Stevenson, Ala., which had been providing energy to the region since the 1960s, rather than knock heads with the EPA over tighter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
PCL Construction, HITT Contracting among nation's largest commercial building contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 50 Commercial 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
Webcor, Hunt Construction lead the way in mixed-use construction, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 30 Mixed-Use 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
Report: Fraud levels fall for construction industry, but companies still losing $6.4 million on average
The global construction, engineering and infrastructure industry saw a significant decline in fraud activity with companies losing an average of $6.4 million over the last three years, according to the latest edition of the Kroll Annual Global Fraud Report, released today at the Association of Corporate Counsel’s 2009 Annual Meeting in Boston. This new figure represents less than half of last year’s amount of $14.2 million.
| Aug 11, 2010
University of Florida aiming for nation’s first LEED Platinum parking garage
If all goes as planned, the University of Florida’s new $20 million Southwest Parking Garage Complex in Gainesville will soon become the first parking facility in the country to earn LEED Platinum status. Designed by the Boca Raton office of PGAL to meet criteria for the highest LEED certification category, the garage complex includes a six-level, 313,000-sf parking garage (927 spaces) and an attached, 10,000-sf, two-story transportation and parking services office building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Business park grows yet again
Construction has begun on the latest addition to Miami International Commerce Center (MICC) industrial park in Doral, Fla. The 75,000-sf facility will offer businesses 3,000 and 7,000 square feet of space. When the new building is completed, MICC will offer tenants 3.2-million sf of light industrial and flex space.
| Aug 11, 2010
Wood chips to heat school district buildings
An alternative energy plant for the Hartford Central School District in Hartford, N.Y., will be a first for the state's public school systems. Designed by Albany, N.Y.-based CSArch Architecture/Construction Management, the $1.9 million plant will provide heat and hot water to the district's elementary and high school complex, as well as to an adjacent technical school.
| Aug 11, 2010
And the world's tallest building is…
At more than 2,600 feet high, the Burj Dubai (right) can still lay claim to the title of world's tallest building—although like all other super-tall buildings, its exact height will have to be recalculated now that the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced a change to its height criteria.
| Aug 11, 2010
Manhattan's Pier 57 to be transformed into $210 million cultural center
LOT-EK, Beyer Blinder Belle, and West 8 have been selected as the design team for Hudson River Park's $210 million Pier 57 redevelopment, headed by local developer Young Woo & Associates. The 375,000-sf vacant passenger ship terminal will be transformed into a cultural center, small business incubator, and public park, including a rooftop venue for the Tribeca Film Festival.
| Aug 11, 2010
Nation's first multistory green industrial facility opens in Brooklyn
The $25 million Perry Avenue Building at Brooklyn Navy Yard is the nation's first multilevel green industrial facility and the first building in New York 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.
