Reno approves first evaporative cooling data center, council to discuss more standards
RENO, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — The Reno City Council this week approved the city’s first evaporative cooling data center and also committed to a future discussion to debate more standards and regulations on the emerging industry.
In a unanimous vote, council members overturned the planning commission’s denial of Oppidan’s 7-acre data center, which will be located near N. Virginia St. and Stead Blvd.
Reno approves 1st evaporative cooling data center, council to discuss more standards
The approval was over the objections of environmental activists, who opposed the project in public comment, citing concerns about water usage.
Unlike the two previous data centers approved in Reno, which will use air conditioning to cool the computer servers, Oppidan’s facility will use evaporative cooling, similar to swamp coolers.
Garrett Gordon, a lawyer representing Oppidan at the hearing, said the facility will use 8 acre-feet of water per year — the two previously approved facilities will use 2 acre-feet of water per year. 8 acre feet per year is equivalent to the usage of 8 single family homes, he said.
But that usage is a fraction of the water used by other facilities, including casinos and hospitals, which use 300 and 100 acre-feet of water per year, respectively.
Gordon said, reading a letter from Vidler Water,
There are over 12,000 acre-feet of water rights available to meet the future needs of the city of Reno and Washoe County, specifically in the North Valleys,
Still, Sierra Club’s Toiyabe Chapter director Olivia Tanager said such data centers are not a good idea in the desert. She said in southern Nevada there is a moratorium on evaporative cooling.
Tanager said,
We know that things are only getting hotter and who knows what will future years will bring as the climate crisis worsens … and so we really feel that because there are other technologies out there, evaporative cooling is not the type of technology we should be bringing to a desert region,
Though the Sierra Club opposes evaporative cooling and the Oppidan facility, Tanager said the meeting Wednesday was a mixed bag because Mayor Hillary Schieve said there will be a future discussion about standards for the data center industry, something activists have been calling for.
She announced there will be a joint meeting of the Reno City Council and Reno Planning Commission in the coming weeks, in which leaders will talk about implementing standards and benchmarks for future data centers.
Tanager hopes the meeting and possible policy addresses some key lingering questions about the environmental impact and benefit to the local community,
How much water are we looking at in the industry? Do we need to put a cap on the amount of water that can go towards data centers in Nevada? What kind of financial benefits do they bring?
Two other data centers were already approved in Reno, the Webb data center in the North Valleys and the Keystone data center on Keystone Ave. in northwest Reno.
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Reno approves first evaporative cooling data center, council to discuss more standards, source
