ROCKINGHAM — The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality will hold a joint public hearing next week on draft air quality permits for Amazon Data Services and Duke Energy related to Amazon’s planned data center campus in Richmond County.
The hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, July 30 at the old Richmond County Courthouse.
“The results of these reviews led to the preliminary determination that these applications could be approved and Division of Air Quality permits could be issued, if certain permit conditions are met,” said the DEQ/DAQ in a press release.
Amazon Web Services is building a $10 billion artificial intelligence data center campus on Airport Road in Hamlet. The project includes 20 to 21 data center buildings across nearly 800 acres in the Energy Way Industrial Park.
According to Amazon’s permit application, the facility would be considered a major source because emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds would each exceed 100 tons per year. The company has agreed to cap those emissions at less than 250 tons per year each.
“The facility would be classified as a minor source of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Air dispersion modeling reviewed by DEQ found that the facility’s emissions of toxic air pollutants are not expected to cause an exceedance of any health-based acceptable level under state law,” said Amazon in a fact sheet.
Amazon’s application states each data center building will have 28 Type A diesel or renewable diesel-fired critical emergency generators, for a total of 588 generators across the site. The project also includes four ancillary diesel or renewable diesel-fired emergency generators, fuel belly tanks associated with each generator and 21 diesel or renewable diesel bulk storage tanks.
Duke Energy is seeking a separate permit to install 57 diesel-fired engines on property adjacent to Amazon Data Services to provide temporary power, referred to as “bridge power,” while permanent transmission infrastructure is completed.
According to a Duke Energy fact sheet, the company would be required to retire the engines within one year of beginning operations and would not be allowed to burn more than 6.06 million gallons of fuel annually.
“Duke Energy would be required to test its bridge power engines to confirm emission rates of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO). The facility would be classified as a minor source of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs),” reads a fact sheet for Duke Energy. “Air dispersion modeling reviewed by DEQ found that emissions of toxic air pollutants are not expected to cause an exceedance of any health-based acceptable level under state law.”
Duke Energy’s original permit application, submitted in March, proposed installing 54 temporary non-emergency engines and six fuel oil storage tanks.
“DEP proposes to install 54 temporary non-emergency ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD)-fired engine generator sets to provide AWS with power while a permanent transmission line is installed. DEP expects to operate up to 45 engines at one time and have nine standby engines. The engines will be 1200 kilowatt (kW) Certified Tier 4 units, each equipped with a diesel particulate filter (DPF), selective catalytic reduction (SCR), and a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) . The Project will also include the installation of six ULSD storage tanks with a capacity of 18,000 gallons each,” Duke’s original permit application states.
The application was amended May 18 and again May 26, increasing the project to include three 300-kilowatt generators, three additional fuel oil storage tanks and a permit condition limiting the Bridge Power Project to no more than 364 calendar days of operation from the first engine startup.
“Since inception of this project, the goal of the Bridge Power Project was to provide an interim power solution for AWS to begin initial commissioning activities while a transmission line was constructed,” reads Duke’s May 26 amendment. “Codifying the Bridge Power Project as a limited duration effort through a permit restriction will help reassure any plant neighbors of our intent.”
Residents who cannot attend the hearing may submit comments through Friday, July 31 in various formats, including:
• By email: DAQ.PublicComments@deq.nc.gov with the subject line “Amazon.25A and DukeRichmond.26C”
• Mail: NCDEQ Division of Air Quality, 1641 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC, 27699-1641
• Phone: Call 919-707-8726 to record your comments via voicemail
Spanish interpretation will be available during the hearing. Those needing information in another language may call 919-707-8446 or email Shawn.Taylor@deq.nc.gov.