The tiny town of Quincy, Washington continues to transform from agriculture to data centers. And two large facilities, housing the computer servers that power much of the Internet economy, continue to move forward. Sabey, the Seattle real estate development firm, and Dell, the giant computer manufacturer, have both won approval from the Washington Department of Ecology to install dozens of diesel generators at new facilities in the 5,000 person town, reports Data Center Knowledge.
Sabey’s Intergate.Quincy, a 520,000 square foot data center now under construction, will install up to 44 diesel generators while Dell recently won approval to install 28 generators.
Diesel generators have sparked some public health worries in the town, but The Department of Ecology has found that there’s no serious risk to public health. In the past year, the state has issued permits for 95 diesel generators in the town, according to Data Center Knowledge.
Large technology companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo and Intuit, have been drawn to Quincy in part because of its dry climate and cheap hydroelectric power from the nearby Columbia River.
Intergate.Quincy marks a major expansion of the data center operations in the town, with the campus spread across 40 acres. Meanwhile, Dell’s data center –known as “Project Roosevelt” — is spread across some 80 acres.
Sabey also operates data centers in Seattle, New York City, northern Virginia and along the Columbia River. It is looking to open the Intergate.Quincy facility later this year.
