Data center project being developed in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory
The University of Michigan (U-M) has reassured local residents that its upcoming $1.2 billion data center project with the Los Alamos National Laboratory will not impact local rivers or hike up electricity costs.
U-M purchased 124 acres off Textile Road in Ypsilanti Township for a data center project with Los Alamos in June 2024 for $8.1m, leading to concerns from locals. At a June township meeting, around 80 residents turned up to protest.
U-M has since released a statement to alleviate at least some of those anxieties, reports WEMU.
Issues previously raised included that water would be drawn from the nearby Huron River to cool servers, and might then be discharged back into the river. This has been disputed by the university, which stated that all cooling water will be purchased from local municipal utilities and "sanitary discharge" will also be handled by the municipal system.
A secondary concern was that electricity prices could go up due to the power draw of the data center, to which U-M has stated that a new DTE substation will be designed and built to accommodate the data center's full needs, and availability of electricity to residents and local businesses will not be impacted.
Another issue cited by locals is that the project will not be paying property taxes, as it is owned by the university, though this seems unchanged.
U-M - and other state schools - are exempt from zoning rules, meaning that the township itself has very little control over the project, with the university not actually required to submit development plans for the project.
Los Alamos and U-M first revealed their intention to develop a data center in December 2024. The facility will be used for high performance computing and AI research, aiming to "strengthen the university’s research capabilities in science, energy, and national security and create new jobs in southeast Michigan."
It will house two computing centers - one for Los Alamos scientists, and the other for academic purposes for U-M faculty and students. Construction is currently slated to begin in 2026.
