A data center under construction in South Brunswick, New Jersey, is the subject of a draft state air permit for twelve diesel emergency generators, and the public comment period now runs until 9 November. Bloomberg confirmed to local media that it rents the building; Sentinel Data Centers is the developer named in the permit.
What the draft permit covers
The generators are rated at 3,620 kW each, about 43 MW in total, and testing is capped at 28 hours a year, according to the local report of 1 November. The state environmental department classes the site as a minor source of air pollution, and its health risk assessment found the risk negligible. Bloomberg says the facility is neither an AI site nor a hyperscale one and puts its peak demand at 30 MW. The Sierra Club, which asked for the public hearing, estimates the project at about 70 MW.
The figures do not all agree. The council of nearby Princeton, which asked the department on 1 October to refuse the permit in its present form, spoke of 20 generators, while the draft covers twelve. Its concern is air quality near two elementary schools. The department held the hearing in September with roughly 200 people attending, and extended the comment deadline from 7 October to 9 November.
Building continues while the paper is argued
Neighbours sued the township and the landowner; a county judge dismissed the case in August and an appeal was filed straight away. Work on the building can go on during the appeal unless a court orders otherwise, so the shell is rising while the permit is still a draft.
That order of events is familiar to anyone who delivers standby plant. The generators are usually the last item to be confirmed and the first to be questioned, because the neighbours can see the stacks and the permit hours are fixed in writing. In Virginia and Walker County the argument has been about the same things: testing hours, exhaust treatment and noise. A site that can show its exhaust treatment and its testing schedule before the hearing is in a better position than one that answers afterwards.
Sources: Magic 98.3 FM, Patch