Pima County Supervisor Matt Heinz and Tucson City Councilman Paul Cunningham said multiple sources highlight the possibility of seven or eight potential end-user tenants.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has abandoned the plans to be a part of from the Project Blue data center in Tucson, Arizona, citing a continued lack of interest, but city council members say otherwise. Data center dynamics reports.
The 290-acre site in Pima County, developed by Blue Owl-owned Beale Infrastructure, had plans to host up to ten buildings totaling two million square feet. Reports indicate that AWS’s lack of interest comes after the proposed cooling technology change, calling it unacceptable. The project will now use air cooling instead of water cooling after complaints from local officials led to the rejection of the plan to enter the city’s recycled water supply system.
Despite the back and forth, Bill says Amazon showed interest, but there was never a formal contract on the spot green light the partnership. “Beale can only speak on behalf of our project and not the intentions of other companies,” the company said in a statement.
“Rather, any company seeking to enter the market has to make that announcement for themselves.”
However, there is room for another owner to enter. Pima County Supervisor Matt Heinz and Tucson City Councilman Paul Cunningham said multiple sources highlight the possibility of seven or eight potential end-user tenants.
There’s still work to be done on the Amazon project before ground can be officially broken, while Bill says an energy deal isn’t necessary for the center to move forward. Agreed Arizona Luminariastate commissioners vote pending Tucson Electric Power’s request to provide hundreds of megawatts of power to the data center as Tucson leaders and residents expressed concern.
Assistant City Attorney Roy Lusk, Tucson’s newest attorney general, filed a motion to accept the commission. a more thorough public hearing regarding the energy contract. “The existence of these terms of the agreement itself raises the question of the impact of the agreement on the cost of electricity to other customers,” the documents state.
“The Commission shall order that a proceeding be instituted to consider the Company’s request, including discovery, affidavit, cross-examination hearing, and briefing.”
Several residents, including those involved in the No Desert Data Center Coalition, have spoken out against all major data center projects in the state. “We cannot afford to keep building these profit machines for billionaires who foot our bills and give us nothing in return,” the coalition said in a statement.
“As communities, we need to envision sustainable economic development programs that give our families a prosperous and livable future.”
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