Noren Energy presents plan for 285,000‑sq‑ft, two‑story high‑performance computing campus; applicant says cooling will use closed‑loop system and on‑site gas‑tü

Representatives for Noren Energy LLC presented a preliminary site plan (SPR 9 20 25) for a high‑performance computing campus at 3700 Limestone Drive and answered questions about power, cooling, water use and site improvements.

Andrew Uten, civil engineer with Langan Engineering, said the primary data center building would have a footprint of about 285,000 square feet and would be two stories tall. He described the development as a “high performance computing center” with the majority of interior space occupied by server racks and the related cooling and HVAC infrastructure. Uten said the applicant estimates building height at “112 feet 7 inches” and requested a variance to 115 feet to ensure compliance with the BZA process.

On power, the applicant said the facility’s compute load would be supplied largely from on‑site generation: an on‑site power yard with enclosed gas turbines supplied by rail‑delivered liquefied or compressed natural gas. Uten said the office portions and guardhouse would connect to the grid for ordinary building services, while the compute systems would operate independently in a modular on‑site generation scheme.

Cooling and water use were focal points of the commission’s questioning. Uten said the facility would use a closed‑loop liquid cooling approach, with on‑site cooling equipment in a chiller yard and a reservoir system; roof solar would offset office power. On initial fill and occasional make‑up of the closed loop, Dale Hobby, identified as part of the new ownership of NES and the inventor of the system, told the commission the project would “initially fill the system with [a] borehole well” and that periodic recharge would be “very, very minimum, less than 3% of total volume of of the entire system” and would “have no significant impact on any of the existing wells … within the 1 mile radius of the site.”

Uten said the project team proposes to upgrade Limestone Drive — currently a dirt private road — to a two‑lane access road to the campus and to provide a guardhouse, vehicle rejection areas and security controls. He said the site plan includes a chiller yard, a power yard, an LNG/CNG rail yard along the railroad, truck loading docks for equipment swaps, and a stormwater management pond located outside the security fence so the city can access it without passing through a checkpoint.

The applicant acknowledged wetlands and some floodplain on the parcel and said stormwater would be managed so runoff would discharge to Hudson Run, not Lake Dorothy. Uten told the commission police and fire had no comments at the preliminary stage and that the project team had received and accepted the city engineer’s comment letter; a traffic study may be unnecessary given the applicant’s estimate of roughly 40 parking stalls for three shifts of employees (about 60 employees total).

Commission members asked about noise, light pollution, tree removal and acoustical fencing for the power and chiller yards. The applicant said turbines and other equipment would be enclosed and surrounded by acoustical fencing and that noise and acoustical studies would be completed in later phases. On lighting, the applicant said code limits would be followed and lighting would be coordinated with landscape plans to limit off‑site glare.

The commission offered preliminary comments and indicated many outstanding technical matters — stormwater, wetlands, floodplain, acoustical and lighting studies, and final utility agreements — would be addressed through the final site plan, the development agreement with City Council and any required BZA variances. No formal approval was granted at the meeting.