Susquehanna data center campus reaches construction milestones

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Cumulus Data announced Tuesday it had completed key construction milestones in Phase 1 of its Susquehanna data center.

The company said the powered shell for the first part of the data center – a 48-megawatt, 300,000-square-foot facility – is complete and available for lease with fiber routes in service. Officials said the 1,200-acre campus will provide zero carbon, low-cost, reliable energy generated by Talen Energy’s Susquehanna nuclear power generation facility. The first of its kind in the United States, the data center will be directly connected to the 2.5 gigawatt Susquehanna power station, providing its customers with a competitive advantage. Those direct connections to on-site power will create industry-leading total cost of ownership (TCO) and attractive power rates, officials said.

“Our flagship Cumulus Susquehanna data center campus is positioned to welcome its first tenant and commence commercial operations this year,” said CEO Alejandro “Alex” Hernandez. “We look forward to advancing our mission to solve the energy ‘trilemma’ which we define as the rapidly increasing consumer demand for zero-carbon, low-cost, and reliable electricity by data center customers, beginning with our first Cumulus Susquehanna data center campus.”

Cumulus said by addressing zero-carbon, low-cost, reliable energy, the data center camps will create family-sustaining jobs, provide technology training and offer economic benefits like tax revenue and an economic driver for the surrounding communities. Cumulus said it anticipates replicating the model at other Talen Energy locations.

“There are currently few options that fulfill all three requirements at once – at massive scale while offering data center customers an industry-leading TCO,” Scott Hanna, Cumulus Chief Revenue Officer, said. “As a member of the iMasons Climate Accord, Talen and Cumulus will support our customers in achieving carbon neutrality by uniting together to adopt a common standard enabled by solutions such as the Cumulus carbon-free data center platform.”