Facebook building Eagle Mountain City, UT data center
June 5, 2018
By Sara K. Madden
lightwaveonline.com
Eagle Mountain City, along with the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) and the Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah), said Facebook will begin building a 970,000 square foot data center at the Sweetwater Industrial Park located in Eagle Mountain, UT. Part of Facebook's data center investment includes over $100 million in infrastructure, such as a new electrical substation supplying 1000 MW of new power delivery capacity to the area for further economic development in Eagle Mountain and the neighboring region.
Representing a $750 million investment in Eagle Mountain, the project will benefit the city, Utah County, Alpine School District, Central Utah Water Conservancy District, and Unified Fire Service Area. The city says that during the first phase of the data center's development and operation, property tax collected for the 490-acre site will grow by 12,000 times.
By using Rocky Mountain Power's available renewable energy tariffs, Eagle Mountain City says the data center would be powered by 100%, net-new renewable energy. Designed to be water-efficient, the facility will reuse water multiple times. Facebook will buy its own water rights and construct the water infrastructure that is necessary, the city asserts.
Eagle Mountain City anticipates that the Facebook data center, which is expected to come online in 2020, will employ 30 to 50 people full time, and possibly create contract work positions as well. Eagle Mountain area was just ranked as the fourth fastest-growing city in Utah by Census data. This slight rise in employee headcount will not have a critical effect on local resources in the growing area, including schools, fire, police services, or traffic, says the City.
Based on land mass, Eagle Mountain City is the third largest city in Utah, and is located between the metro areas of Salt Lake City and Provo. Since its incorporation in 1996, the city has grown to a population of more than 32,000. Eagle Mountain has developed and executed a strategy of using data centers for building its tax base and economic foundation over the past decade. According to the City, its officials have worked with GOED, members of the state legislature, EDCUtah, and Utah County officials on the Facebook data facility, positioning Eagle Mountain and Utah County to become a data center industry hub in the Western U.S
"A deal like bringing in Facebook requires dozens of entities and thousands of hours of work, much of which was undertaken by Eagle Mountain, Utah County and state officials," said Theresa Foxley, EDCUtah president and CEO. "The potential for financial return and infrastructure development is self-evident for this project, and really sets the city, county, and state up for future success."
EDCUtah works with state and local government and private industry to attract companies to Utah, expanding local businesses, while GOED offers resources and support for business establishment, growth, and recruitment across Utah. It also provides programs for maximizing tourism and film production to create a sustainable economy with diversity.
Facebook recently announced the addition of a third data center at its Luleå campus in Sweden, which is similarly positioned to be a hub for operating large-scale data centers (see "Facebook expands Luleå, Sweden campus with new data center"). |
