Starwood Digital Ventures presented its appeal of DNREC’s ruling that its proposed data center in New Castle County is prohibited by Delaware’s Coastal Zone Act.
Starwood argued before the Coastal Zone Industrial Control Board Tuesday that its project does not constitute “heavy industrial use” as determined by DNREC’s Secretary Gregory Patterson in February.
Starwood's plan in New Castle County spans about 580 acres with around 6 million square feet of data center space.
Its legal representatives, including Jeffrey Moyer, pointed to the necessity of data centers for internet infrastructure and potential property tax benefits for the state.
Starwood also leaned on expert witnesses to make its case.
Moyer and his team called on former DNREC Secretary David Small to support its argument that the data center proposal does not constitute prohibited heavy industrial use in the state’s coastal zone.
Small is a consult for Mirantis now, helping clients with state and federal environmental regulatory requirements. He worked on the Starwood application in New Castle County.
To Small, equipment such as “smokestacks” that the DNREC Secretary sited as violations to Delaware's environmental rule don't translate to data centers.
"In my mind a smokestack is a piece of equipment that's generally part of a processing, heavy industry, or manufacturing use that is part of the manufacturing process itself," he said.
He went on to say classic definitions for this would be chemical processing, oil, or steel mills.
The exhaust portals on Starwood's data center technology would be elevated less than ten feet. Smokestacks in heavy industry use, Small said, "are typically elevated above grade, sometimes maybe hundreds of feet."
Starwood’s team also argued that its plan to have more than 500 diesel generators on site does not constitute heavy industrial use because the company only intends to run them during emergency circumstances, like power outages.
Brad Gray, another Starwood data center consultant, took questions on this during cross questioning from the DNREC Secretary's legal representation, Max Walton.
"The generators would have to run continuously as long as the power was out in order to keep project Washington going," Walton said.
That is true, Gray said. But it's the point of having back up generators.
The data center's diesel generators are projected to run 20 hours a year, Walton said. But that doesn't account for emergencies or outages.
Gray said Delaware's grid is more reliable than other areas of the country.
"...the grid is extremely reliable," he said. "This is not the grid from when we were children."
PMJ, Delaware's public advocate, and Reliability First all testified last month that Delaware's grid reliability is projected to decrease over the next five years.
Gray added he is not an expert on exhaust or designs of generators. But the company he works for does have experts in this area who handle that part of planning for data centers.
The Starwood appeal hearing will continue Wednesday, and likely Thursday– with counter arguments and public comment before a board decision.
