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Hutchinson approves small data center at 1025 5th Ave SE; city says electricity, noise will be managed
Summary
Hutchinson will host a roughly 7,200 sq ft data center at 1025 5th Avenue SE, the city says. The facility is expected to use about 20 megawatts; officials say it will pay its own power and must meet Minnesota noise standards with required studies.
Miles Seppold, Hutchinson’s economic development director, said the city has approved a small data center to be built at 1025 5th Avenue Southeast and expects construction as a 2026 project.
"This is gonna be a very tiny data center," Seppold said, describing the proposed building as about 7,200 square feet — roughly the size of three houses — with an adjacent fenced area for cooling equipment. He said the building will be an ordinary metal structure with prefabricated elements.
Seppold told listeners the facility will be a large electricity user for the community. "The data center is going to use 20 megawatts of electricity," he said, adding that Hutchinson’s total community load is roughly 100 megawatts and the new center would bring that to roughly 120 megawatts. "It won't affect anybody's electric bill in any way," Seppold said, saying the data center will pay for its own electricity and Hutchinson Utilities has capacity to serve the load.
On water and cooling, Seppold said the site will use a closed-loop system filled with antifreeze that circulates through equipment and is cooled by external fans, meaning the project "will not be a significant user of water" and will not generate wastewater.
The city allowed the project in I-2 (heavy industrial) zoning under a conditional-use permit. Seppold said the permit requires compliance with Minnesota's state noise standards and calls for a preliminary noise study when the facility comes online and a follow-up study six months later to document compliance. "We're gonna keep close tabs on this project to make sure that it's not adversely affecting the area where it's located," he said.
Seppold also said, in the city's view, an environmental impact study is not required for the facility because it will not produce emissions or wastewater that would meaningfully affect the external environment. He invited listeners with further questions to contact him directly.
The information above is drawn from Seppold's on-record statements in the Hutchinson Economic Developments episode.
