Maryland denies use of diesels for data center backup
Aug 06, 2023 | Posted by MadalineDunn
The Maryland Public Services Commission has told Aligned, which has bought space on the 2GW Quantum Loophole site in Adamstown, Frederick County, that diesel generators are not an acceptable form of backup in 2023.
Aligned applied to have 168 diesel generators, each with 3MW generating capacity for backup, expecting each generator to be exempted separately. However, according to DCD, it did tell Commissioner Bonnie Suchman that if the park experienced a full-scale outage, it would operate as one.
Commissioner Bonnie Suchman returned, saying that this constituted a single 504MW power plant: "I'm having a lot of trouble understanding staff's position that these are separate entities. To me, this is a power plant on your system. It just looks a little bit different than the traditional central station plant."
"I don't understand, in 2023 why you're proposing a 504-megawatt diesel generator. Suchman instructed the company to return, as she knows there are other data centers that are "doing much more responsible backup generation than what is being proposed here," she noted.
Indeed, at the Aligned Data Centers site in Plano, Texas, there's a microgrid that reportedly "emits one-tenth of the particulates of conventional backup generators."
According to Rick Sparkman, the director of data center engineering at the company, other options "were just not technically or economically feasible for this project" and said that backup generators would never be used for a significant amount of time.
The Maryland Commission decided to decline an exemption for the fleet of generators and directed Aligned to the CPCN process to proceed.
In a statement, Aligned said: "Aligned's application to install generators was not denied. What was denied was the exemption from the CPCN process, which means that the PSC commissioners want Aligned to go through the CPCN process. The PSC simply decided who – among the PSC, MDE and Frederick County – will make decisions regarding siting and air permitting once an application is submitted."
Speaking on the decision to decline, Schuman said: "That's part of our mandate. When developers come to us asking for approval or an exemption of a certificate, part of the consideration is the environmental impact. And I can tell you that diesel generators are about the worst choice that you can make right now, even if it's for backup, and there are lots of other choices that your company has made in other states, and I'm not understanding why those decisions weren't made better here."
Aligned applied to have 168 diesel generators, each with 3MW generating capacity for backup, expecting each generator to be exempted separately. However, according to DCD, it did tell Commissioner Bonnie Suchman that if the park experienced a full-scale outage, it would operate as one.
Commissioner Bonnie Suchman returned, saying that this constituted a single 504MW power plant: "I'm having a lot of trouble understanding staff's position that these are separate entities. To me, this is a power plant on your system. It just looks a little bit different than the traditional central station plant."
"I don't understand, in 2023 why you're proposing a 504-megawatt diesel generator. Suchman instructed the company to return, as she knows there are other data centers that are "doing much more responsible backup generation than what is being proposed here," she noted.
Indeed, at the Aligned Data Centers site in Plano, Texas, there's a microgrid that reportedly "emits one-tenth of the particulates of conventional backup generators."
According to Rick Sparkman, the director of data center engineering at the company, other options "were just not technically or economically feasible for this project" and said that backup generators would never be used for a significant amount of time.
The Maryland Commission decided to decline an exemption for the fleet of generators and directed Aligned to the CPCN process to proceed.
In a statement, Aligned said: "Aligned's application to install generators was not denied. What was denied was the exemption from the CPCN process, which means that the PSC commissioners want Aligned to go through the CPCN process. The PSC simply decided who – among the PSC, MDE and Frederick County – will make decisions regarding siting and air permitting once an application is submitted."
Speaking on the decision to decline, Schuman said: "That's part of our mandate. When developers come to us asking for approval or an exemption of a certificate, part of the consideration is the environmental impact. And I can tell you that diesel generators are about the worst choice that you can make right now, even if it's for backup, and there are lots of other choices that your company has made in other states, and I'm not understanding why those decisions weren't made better here."