Q&A of the Day – About Project Tango & Indiantown Data Center Proposals Part 1
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
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Today’s entry: Hi Brian, Need clarity on Data Centers so of course I thought of you to get the real story...one side to facts. Rumor has it a data center may be coming to Indiantown. There is much consternation regarding it. Folks are even planning on protesting. Doesn't AI dictate their necessity? What is so good or so bad about them? I've heard they use massive quantities of electricity which will cause brownouts and higher energy costs to the residents. But, I've also heard that they are capable of generating their own electricity. Is this just a case of NIMBY? Thanks.
Bottom Line: I’ve regularly received opinions and at times questions about what’s known as Project Tango, which is a proposed data center project which would encompass over 200 acres in western Palm Beach County, in the vicinity of the 20-Mile Bend, near Arden, and the far larger data center proposal which would cover 606 acres at Silver Fox Road in Indiantown. I’ll take this opportunity to cover both of them with Project Tango today and the Silver Fox proposal tomorrow.
Project Tango is a proposed hyperscale AI data center campus covering approximately 200+ acres along State Road 80 in the Loxahatchee / 20-Mile Bend area with the listed address cited as 20125 Southern Blvd, Loxahatchee, FL 33470. The data center would be in close proximity to Saddle View Elementary School.
The site was initially approved in 2016 for smaller-scale industrial/commerce use, however Project Tango has led to developers seeking to reclassify it for large-scale AI data center use, shifting away from what were originally believed to be more warehouse-focused plans a decade ago. As for the developers...
The landowner is PBA Holdings a local company with agricultural ties. Others involved in the proposed project include Tennessee-based contractor Phillips Inc. and others like TPA Group or WPB Logistics LLC based on fillings. The end user would be a tech company or companies in need of likely a major tech company needing the facility for AI/cloud operations.
If constructed, what would it be?
- A large-scale artificial intelligence data center
- Hyperscaled designed to support high-compute AI training and operations, requiring significant power, cooling, and infrastructure
- Approximately 1+ million square feet of building space with some structures potentially 7 or more stories tall
- Power needs in the 100MW+ range – which is equivalent to the amount of power needed to power 100,000 homes
- Estimated project cost is $2.6 billion
Let’s put some of this into perspective. The amount of power required, as mentioned, is the equivalent of about 100,000 homes. The largest municipality in Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach, has about 61,000 homes. The amount of power required would effectively be about the same amount of power as is needed to currently power all residences in West Palm Beach and Boca Raton. It’s clearly significant. Among the many concerns that have been expressed is the potential for area residents to have higher power costs as has occurred in communities across the country due to increased demand for power.
Aside from development considerations, future power cost concerns pertaining to data centers have been real. A recent Bloomberg analysis found that commonly electricity costs for residential use rose by 80% to 267% over five years in communities near AI-data centers. That compares to a 41% increase in costs on average nationally. Data center cost increases for power have led to outrage in many impacted communities across the country. So about that...
One of the reasons the site has been attractive for this project is due to its proximity to an existing FPL power plant and reclaimed water infrastructure that can be used for cooling. Notably, FPL has stated that unlike in other states, should large AI data centers like Project Tango move forward, they’ll ensure that existing consumers won’t pay more for electricity – passing all costs through to the operators. They’ve already factored this into their planning for future power generation plans.
Most recently a key Palm Beach County Commission zoning hearing and scheduled vote was postponed to April 23, and developers have considered a smaller proposed footprint for the data center to attempt to allay concerns of citizens.
Currently there are 12 data centers already active between the within Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast though this would be one of the largest – if not the largest. Although the current proposal for the Silver Fox data center in Indiantown would almost certainly be the largest...I’ll cover that one in tomorrow’s Q&A.