Qunicy is a small town in rural Washington state (population 6,800), but has a big impact on the Internet infrastructure. What Quincy has is abundant and excess power from hydro electric sources.
At first it was the ‘mega content’ companies that deployed to Quincy. Yahoo, Microsoft were early to the area. Now there are plenty of wholesale and retail colocation options.
- CyrusOne
- Sabey operates two large data centers. (Quincy and East Wenatchee)
- Vantage
- H5 Data Centers acquired the Intuit data center in 2018 in a sale-lease back transaction
Columbia Valley Natural Advantages for Data Centers
The main benefit of having a data center located in Quincy, Washington State is the abundant renewable power (at least 2,000 MW) from Wanapum and Priest Rapids dams operated by the Grant County PUD. Commercial power costs are around 2.5 cents /kWh, which is significantly lower than the rest of the nation which are approximately 10 cents /kWh nationally.
- Valuable data center sales tax exemption for tenants
- Reduced carbon footprint from 100% renewable power(hydropower)
- Excellent fiber routes including metro and long haul networks
- Low risk of natural disasters. Seismic site class C