Let's Talk Apex: Data Centers

How they impact Apex, and the way forward.

“Let’s Talk Apex” is a new series of posts that are deep dives into a single topic.

How We Got Here

So in August of last year, the Town of Apex received a submission for a data center project. It was a rezoning, so it had to go through the regular rezoning process - and it actually hasn’t come to Town Council yet. But since that submission, the Town Council has been spending it’s time listening and learning to residents, staff, and the applicant to better understand the impacts of the project.

One thing that became clear was Apex didn’t have the rules in place to properly regulate Data Centers. So, I asked staff to begin working on that, and present some research at a work session. That meeting happened on 1/22.

Here is what I learned, and what my concerns are.

Power Bills

My number 1 concern is the rising cost of electricity and the impact to the power bills of Apex residents. Duke is already talking about an 18% increase in residential bills. I note that some tech companies have felt this pushback and made promises about “paying as they go” - we’ll see if that happens - but for now, in North Carolina, we have to deal with Senate Bill 288 which allows Duke to begin charging for power plants they have not yet built - further driving costs.

Another concern centers around coal plants. When Duke came to our meeting, I directly asked if they had plans to defer the retirement of coal plants to help meeting the surging demand. They said no.

Except their plan calls for exactly that.

That’s problematic.

Sound

I’m very concerned about what I’ve heard about the impact of a low, buzzing sound just permanently in the area of some hyperscale datacenters. It would drive me mad. We need to make sure this doesn’t happen but strictly regulating sound emissions at the property line with strict enforcement.

This also comes down as well to the scale of projects we’re talking about. It’d much prefer to have a smaller regular sized data center come to Apex prior to a hyper-scaler, so we can test the impacts and the effectiveness of our rules prior to diving in.

Environmental Concerns

Beyond just the coal plant issues, there are a variety of other environment concerns that need to be mitigated. Legionnaires disease, for example, is a frequent problem in these cooling towers: and requires strict cleaning standards to mitigate. We should adopt them. I’m concerned about the exhaust from hundreds and hundreds of diesel generators running at once in an area near a residential zone or a school. Diesel should be limited and alternative backup power sources should be explored. And the water loss is troubling, especially for our downstream partners. I wonder if a closed loop system helps mitigate some of this.

In Conclusion

I want you to know that Apex is committed to studying this issue and I will work to pass a comprehensive set of rules related to data centers to address all of these concerns. I won’t support any project which doesn’t meet these new standards and doesn’t ensure the health, the safety, the welfare, and the quality of life of our residents.

-terry