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Project Apollo presenters tell Marlboro County they would bring jobs, pay for infrastructure and limit water use
Summary
At a Marlboro County information session, company representatives described Project Apollo as a data center proposal that they say would create about 65 permanent jobs, use closed-loop cooling to reduce water use, bring its own power via fuel cells and commit 2% of project costs to local programs; presenters said the company would pay for needed infrastructure upgrades.
Company representatives presented technical and economic details of "Project Apollo" at a Marlboro County information session, saying the proposal would generate local jobs, invest in workforce training and fund infrastructure upgrades rather than pass costs to residents.
Rochelle, a company representative who opened the presentation, said the briefing aimed to answer residents’ questions about data centers and what they mean for a community. "We came here simply to answer questions," she said, noting the firm has no formal relationship with Marlboro County and that the project is active but not yet announced.
Craig, introduced as the company’s technology officer, described cooling and water systems used in modern facilities. "Data centers used a lot of water... today the systems that we're using are known as closed loop systems," he said, explaining closed-loop cooling charges water once and recirculates it rather than continually withdrawing new supplies.
Presenters discussed power and emissions strategy. Rochelle said the company typically "brings our own power" rather than relying directly on the local grid and described using Bloom Energy fuel-cell units with a long-term pathway toward green hydrogen. She said the company’s intent is to limit reliance on the utility grid and that costs for power use would be charged to the data center rather than passed to residents.
On jobs and local investment, Craig said the rendering shown would "produce about 65 full-time jobs," and described four employment tiers from entry-level to executive positions; he emphasized the industry’s interest in hiring veterans and technical trainees. Rochelle said the company plans to allocate roughly 2% of the project cost to community projects and to partner with local technical colleges to develop training and certification pathways aimed at hiring locally.
Presenters also addressed design and environmental mitigation: they said much equipment noise is contained inside the building, cited a target of roughly 60 decibels at the facility fence line for outside sound, and described landscaping features such as living green walls and pollinator gardens intended to support habitat and microclimates.
The session moved into a public Q&A; presenters repeated that the company is still competing with other communities and that more detailed project information is being reserved while negotiations continue. Tony DeNeil, who opened the meeting, said elected officials will be kept informed and that infrastructure upgrades the company is requesting would be paid by the company rather than by county residents.
Next steps: presenters said they would answer follow-up questions and that the public comment period and county review processes would continue; no formal county decision or vote was announced at the session.
