Aligned applies for permit to build generators

By GABRIELLE LEWIS

glewis@newspost.com

Aligned Data Centers has applied to the Maryland Department of the Environment for a permit to construct more than 170 emergency generators for its planned data center project at Quantum Loophole’s campus in Frederick County.

In its application, filed on July 1, the Texas-based company requested to build 168 three-megawatt generators and four one-megawatt generators — a combined capacity of 508 megawatts of power.

A public comment meeting on the Maryland Department of the Environment’s (MDE) draft permit for Aligned will be held on Dec. 11 at 6 p.m. at Carroll Manor Elementary School.

Individuals can also email written comments on the draft to MDE Public Participation Coordinator Shannon Heafey at shannon.heafey@maryland. gov. Written comments will be accepted through Dec. 30.

Aligned was the first company to announce its intent to build a data center on Quantum Loophole’s planned campus on the former site of the Alcoa Eastalco aluminum smelting plant near Adamstown.

The company applied for an exemption from obtaining a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) from the Maryland Public Service Commission last year so it could install 168 three-megawatt backup diesel generators as part of planned data center facilities.

The certificate “provides authority for a person to construct or modify a new generating station or high-voltage transmission lines,” according to the commission’s website.

The commission denied that exemption and said Aligned would only be allowed to install generators with a total combined capacity of 70 megawatts.

Aligned abandoned its Frederick County project in October 2023 after not receiving the exemption, saying in a letter that the commission’s decision may have “sent a negative — and perhaps fatal — signal to the hoped-for data center industry in Maryland.”

Earlier this year, Gov. Wes Moore signed a bill, the Critical Infrastructure Streamlining Act of 2024, that makes it easier for data center developers to (See GENERATORS A10)

(GENERATORS from A1) install backup generators.

The law allows certain entities, including data centers, to bypass obtaining a CPCN to install emergency backup generators.

Shortly after the bill passed, Aligned said it planned to proceed again with its project in Frederick County.

Since then, the company has filed its construction permit application with MDE, as well as a site plan application for an electric substation with the Frederick County Division of Planning and Permitting on Nov. 15.

Aligned spokesperson Joanna Soucy said on Thursday that the company has no further comment on its application or the upcoming public meeting.

MDE spokesperson Jay Apperson said the public meeting is not a legally mandated part of the construction permit process, but the department wants to offer people the chance to comment.

“Public participation is a key part of our permit application review process,” Apperson wrote in a statement on Thursday. “We encourage everyone who has a comment to let us know, and we will carefully consider all comments as we make a final determination on this application.”

DRAFT PERMIT DETAILS

Any operation or equipment that creates emissions to the outside air must receive an air quality permit from MDE before construction, according to a document about air quality construction permits.

Fuel-burning equipment — such as the diesel-powered generators Aligned wants to install — fall under emission-discharging operations that need this permit.

In May 2023, the Frederick County Planning Commission gave Aligned conditional site plan approval to build a data center including 42 three-megawatt diesel generators.

In Aligned’s original CPCN exemption application, the company had wanted to install 168 three-megawatt generators, which included the 42 generators from the approved site plan, as well as generators for three other future data center buildings.

MDE’s draft construction permit for Aligned would allow the company to build the requested 168 three-megawatt and four one-megawatt generators.

Each of Aligned’s four planned data center buildings would have 42 three-megawatt generators and a one-megawatt generator.

For the first data center building, the installation start date for its generators would be in 2024, and the expected operation date would be in 2026.

Under the draft permit, each of Aligned’s generators would need to have:

¦ a non-resettable hour meter to measure the duration each unit is operated

¦ a fuel flow meter to measure and record the unit’s fuel consumption ¦ a device to measure the unit’s engine kilowatt output at least once every 15 minutes The permit also outlines hourly limits on maintenance checks and readiness testing for each emergency generator in a year-long period. These limits include:

¦ three hours for readiness tests, which occur monthly for 15 minutes

¦ two hours for preventative maintenance checks, which occur quarterly for 30 minutes

¦ one hour for load tests, which occur annually for one hour

¦ two hours for uninterruptible power supply tests, which occur annually for two hours Aligned’s generators can also not create more than 25 tons of nitrogen oxide emissions, according to the draft permit. It also dictates limits on how much fuel the generators can use.

The company would be required to submit a semi-annual report to MDE including monthly total emissions of various pollutants, as well as emissions and fuel consumption in gallons over rolling year-long periods.

Apperson said the next steps in Aligned’s construction permit process are for MDE to respond to public comments before making a final determination on the permit.

Stacks of reinforced concrete pipe sit at the construction site of Quantum Loophole’s planned data center campus near Adamstown on Oct. 3.

Staff file photo by Ric Dugan