Quincy data center seeks fewer generators

QUINCY — The air in Eastern Washington is going to be a little cleaner thanks to a request from the Dell data center in Quincy to significantly reduce the number of diesel powered backup generators.

Dell Marketing, which is changing its name to NTT Data Services to reflect a change of ownership in 2016, has scaled back the number of 3 megawatt diesel generators to five from 28.

“In the notice of construction for the Quincy center, they asked for a capacity for 28 generators, but they only ever installed five,” said Brook Beeler, a spokesperson with the Washington State Department of Ecology.

“They looked at it, decided they only needed five, and revised their permit to reflect that,” Beeler said.

Dell opened the data center in 2012, one of several the company built worldwide to accommodate the need for cloud computing services.

Washington state requires firms building emergency generating capacity to apply for air quality permits. Beeler said it is not unusual for companies to revise their permits and seek more generating capacity — and create more pollution burning diesel fuel — but NTT Data’s reduction is unusual.

“I don’t think this has happened before, at least not in Quincy,” she said.

Quincy is home to a number of data centers operated by companies as diverse as operating system developer Microsoft and business and financial software firm Intuit, drawn here by the region’s inexpensive and reliable electricity. Firms install diesel-powered backup generators as backup in the event of electrical failures.

NTT Data did not respond to requests for comment.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.