Stratos Project water application reveals new details on massive data center

SALT LAKE CITY — A newly filed water permit application for the proposed Stratos Project is providing the most detailed look yet at the planned data center development in Box Elder County.

The application for permanent change of water use from irrigation operations to supply the data center project was submitted Thursday to the Utah Division of Water Rights by O'Leary Digital Utah DC Sub I, LLC, associated with businessman Kevin O'Leary. It outlines plans for a large-scale data center campus and power generation facility that developers say would use less water than the land's historical agricultural use.

The nearly 200-page application includes a water mass balance assessment report by Canadian engineering and surveying firm Beairsto & Associates and a hydrologic evaluation and depletion analysis for water right prepared by Park City-based Loughlin Water Associates, LLC.

According to the documents, the project would include 11 clusters of data center buildings and a 7.5-gigawatt generation facility comprised of fifteen 500-megawatt combined-cycle natural gas power plants. It also lists 4,850 employees.

"The project comprises eleven data centre clusters, each accommodating 400 personnel, together with a co-located 7.5 GW reciprocating-engine generation facility arranged as fifteen blocks of 500 MW, each block staffed by thirty personnel. The campus operates continuously. Amenities include cafeteria and food service provision and shower and locker facilities. One hundred and fifty-four acres of landscaping are proposed, being fourteen acres associated with each data centre cluster. The selected power-water configuration uses a closed recycle loop with 90% recovery and 10% freshwater makeup," according to the Exhibit B- Beairsto Report.

In the application, developers said the project's water demands would be lower than historical agricultural uses on the property. They also said the development could result in additional water reaching the Great Salt Lake.

"… there can be no question that more water will reach the Great Salt Lake from Salt Wells Spring Stream than has reached it historically," page 10 of the application stated.

However, critics of the project are questioning those claims.

Ben Abbott, an ecologist and executive director of the nonprofit Grow the Flow, said he is skeptical the project can generate the amount of electricity proposed while using the amount of water described in the application.

"The short and the long of it is, they don't tell us how they're going to achieve power production of that magnitude with that little water," Abbott said. "This would be a water-to-power ratio that is 10 to 100 times better than the top-performing facilities today. That's if they're using the reciprocating gas engines. If it's the combined cycle gas turbine, this just isn't in the realm of reality. There is not an example anywhere on the planet."

KSL reached out to representatives for O'Leary's team seeking a response to Abbott's concerns. On Saturday, Paul Palandjian, the chief executive officer of O'Leary Digital and co-founder of the business along with Kevin O'Leary, wrote: "The reason is simple: he is comparing us to plants that cool by evaporating water, and we do not. Our power generation is closed-loop, and the water in the application is make-up water for a loop that reuses ninety percent (90%) of what runs through it, which is set out in Exhibit B. That works out to about two gallons per megawatt-hour. It has been our goal from the onset and we are very proud of the work done by our engineers and consultants to make efficient use of water for the project."

Additionally, Palandjian said the development's footprint is "about 2,500 acres inside a campus of roughly 10,000 acres. The remaining 7,500 acres stay undisturbed and preserved."

He also clarified that the 4,850 workers are the operating headcount and do not include construction employment, "which runs higher at peak during the multi-year build." He said, "It is a conservative planning figure, and actual headcount will be set by tenants and phasing."

The Utah Division of Water Rights said the application will follow the same review process as every other application. The proposal will be publicly advertised for two weeks, and there will be a 20-day protest period.

The application and additional documents can be viewed below:

APPLICATION FOR PERMANENT by devin.oldroyd

Hansel Valley and Salt Wells Flat Hydrologic Evaluation and Depletion Analysis for Water Right 13-2 by devin.oldroyd

WATER MASS BALANCE ASSESSMENT REPORT by devin.oldroyd

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Contributing: Daniella Rivera

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