Second data center project proposed in Beaver Dam

A second data center development is being proposed in Beaver Dam. Local officials say it would be much smaller than Meta’s data center campus currently under construction.

On Monday, the Beaver Dam Area Development Corp. and Minnesota-based developer Oppidan Investment Co. presented their plans to the Beaver Dam City Council.

Oppidan is looking to build a 90,000-square-foot data center on a 13-acre site currently owned by the city, according to a memo from Beaver Dam City Administrator Larry Bierke.

“This project is significantly smaller than the past data center project, however you should still expect that there will be many people from all over Wisconsin attending to speak on the proposal,” Bierke wrote.

Around a dozen people spoke out against the proposal during the meeting.

During the presentation, Trent Campbell, executive director of the Beaver Dam Area Development Corp., and Pete Carbonneau, associate developer for Oppidan Investment Co., spoke about the project and took questions from alders. 

The council did not vote on the proposed project this week. It could review a draft development agreement at a future meeting.

Campbell said Oppidan is looking to develop an “edge data center,” which would be “far smaller in size and scope” than the hyperscale data center Meta is developing in Beaver Dam. 

Carbonneau described edge data centers as “a signal booster” that provides storage and computing that “keep latency very low, so that when you send things across the internet, it doesn’t get bogged down.”

If completed, Carbonneau said the facility would have 15 full-time jobs, as well as support ancillary jobs like HVAC technicians and diesel technicians. He said the project would have a roughly 16- to 18-month buildout.

“We look forward to working with the city on this, being transparent,” Carbonneau said. 

Campbell said the developer has not required nondisclosure agreements with the city. 

When Meta was in the early stages of developing its data center campus in Beaver Dam, the company worked through a limited liability company going by an alias. The city approved a development agreement with that LLC roughly a year before Meta went public with the project.

Campbell also said the site of the new data center would be purchased at about $31,000 per acre. When fully constructed, he said the project would have a taxable value of approximately $40.9 million.

Campbell said there would be no tax increment financing incentive to the developer for this project, but the city would be asked to amend an existing tax increment district to include the proposed development site if officials want to move forward with the project.

When fully built out, he said the facility would need less than 20 megawatts of power, whereas Meta’s data center campus would need “in the neighborhood of 400 megawatts.”

“These edge centers are smaller in physical size, smaller in energy consumption, certainly than the hyper scale counterparts,” Campbell said.

Kimberly Miller, a key account manager for Alliant Energy, said the utility has sent a letter to the developer outlining the details needed to provide electric service.

“Once the potential customer applies, Alliant Energy will complete an engineering review and provide estimated in-service dates and costs to our customer,” she said.

Campbell also said data centers of the scale of the new one being proposed use an estimated 5,929 gallons of water each day. But he said a typical full service restaurant is estimated to use approximately 6,000 gallons of water each day. 

During the public comment portion of the meeting, opponents expressed concerns related to the secrecy around Meta’s development, potential water and energy usage of data centers and fears that data centers could hurt their property values.

“I hope you’re really, really listening to us. The first one is a mistake. The second one, man, don’t go through with that,” said Diane Holland, who lives in Dodge County. “You’ve heard us. The first one you weren’t transparent about. I hope you’re being on the up and up and being transparent now.”

Beaver Dam Mayor Bobbi Marck encouraged the public to contact their alders if they had questions or concerns about the potential project. She also said the city would do its due diligence before approving anything.

“As we move forward with this project, we will do the engineering studies (and) we will get the specific figures for our location,” she said. “And then we will share those with the public and with our council members so that we can make a decision going forward.”