San Jose has put down in writing what it expects from the next wave of data centers, and the backup generators get the hardest rules. At a community meeting on Thursday 15 October the city presented draft standards for data centers and research and development facilities of 20 MW and more. Generators would have to meet EPA Tier 4, and their running for testing and maintenance would be capped at 25 hours a year, half of the 50 hours state rules allow, KQED reports. The city wants the council to adopt the ordinance in December.
The Draft, Point By Point
- Generators: EPA Tier 4 and the 25-hour limit; deputy city manager Manuel Pineda presented them together with the enforcement tools, CBS San Francisco reports.
- Noise: sound barriers around exterior equipment and a city monitoring program to check compliance.
- Water: recycled water for cooling, or a low-water design such as closed-loop or air-cooled systems; drinking water in open cooling systems would be barred, according to Hoodline.
- Electricity: fully carbon-neutral supply.
- Reporting: yearly figures on noise, sewage, energy and water, with third-party verification of water and electricity use every five years. Projects that do not comply could face penalties or have to add measures.
- Neighbours: the mailed notice radius grows from 1,000 to 1,500 feet.
The draft makes no difference between a data center and an R&D building above 20 MW. That matters for Google's project in Alviso, a research facility on paper that could draw 250 MW at full capacity, CBS San Francisco writes. The city counts 11 applications under review; Hoodline put the number of pending projects of 20 MW or more at about a dozen.
Residents Would Rather Have A Moratorium
The meeting did not settle the argument. Residents and community groups asked for a pause on all approvals, as San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond, Gilroy and Oakley have done with temporary moratoriums, according to KQED. Mayor Matt Mahan has said an outright ban would be a way of avoiding the issue and has promised some of the strictest standards in the state. Planning Commission review is expected on 18 November, council consideration on 8 December and the second reading on 15 December; the law would take effect 30 days later.
The Hours Nobody Counts
One gap came up at the meeting itself: the standards would not apply during power outages, when the generators run for real. A resident asked what happens in a heat wave when the grid fails and the generators start. For an operator the 25-hour cap is the change that arrives first. Monthly load runs, the annual full-load test and any retest after a repair all have to fit inside it, on every engine of the site, so test programs will get shorter and need more planning. The engines will still sit idle most of the year, and their starting systems, coolant and cooling equipment need the same attention as before, with fewer hours to prove them.
Oregon has just chosen to stop data center permits outright. San Jose is trying the opposite route for its data centers, and the December vote will show how much of the draft survives.
Sources: KQED, CBS San Francisco, Hoodline
