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Elected official says NDA allowed city talks with proposed data center; Alabama Power to serve site
Summary
An elected official said signing a nondisclosure agreement allowed private conversations with a company planning a small data center and with Alabama Power about the site’s energy needs.
An elected official said signing a nondisclosure agreement allowed private conversations with a company planning a small data center and with Alabama Power about the site’s energy needs.
“The benefit of the NDA ... is it allowed me to have conversations with them and ask questions,” the elected official said, adding that the city attorney and Shelby County economic development agency 58 Inc. advised that signing the agreement was appropriate.
The official told the meeting the developer has arranged with Alabama Power to install an independent substation to serve the facility so it will not draw power directly from the city of Columbiana’s distribution. Alabama Power has told the official the site’s eventual demand could reach 55 megawatts; the speaker said the facility has been receiving about 22 megawatts while operating as a Bitcoin-mining site and that the project would expand modularly toward the 55-megawatt figure.
On water use, the elected official said the proposed site is about 13 acres and “not a huge data center.” He said the company estimated peak water use of roughly 11,000 gallons a day and that initial operations would use about 3,000 gallons a day; the town’s water board and sewer department told the official they did not view those amounts as an issue.
A resident at the meeting questioned whether large commercial contracts could give big customers priority on meters and asked whether that would leave long-term residents paying higher rates. The resident also requested more public discussion and noted nearby municipalities had been approached about related projects.
The meeting record shows discussion and public comment only; there were no motions or votes reported during the remarks and no formal action by the council recorded in the transcript segment presented.
The elected official said the NDA also allowed staff to ask developers whether particular information could be made public; he said developers later issued press releases and that he had shared technical details at prior council meetings.
No schedule for approvals or construction was stated in the remarks, and the official said he had relied on advice from the city attorney and on guidance from Shelby County’s economic development agency, 58 Inc., when deciding to sign the NDA.
