Go Medina crowd hears data center presentation

By Linda Perkins

Anvil Herald reporter

Medina Economic Development Foundation Inc. (Go Medina) met Tuesday, Jan. 27 in Castroville. The guest speaker was Genevieve Flores, Rowan Digital  Infrastructure’s  community affairs specialist, who provided a project update on Rowan’s Project Cinco, located on 440 acres near Lytle.

“Rowan is a leading U.S.-based data center developer delivering hyperscale campuses for the largest technology companies,” said Flores.

A hyperscale data center is a massive facility that provides extreme scalability capability (capacity to grow and handle more demand without substantially increasing costs or compromising on quality) and is engineered for large-scale workloads.

Due to the ever-increasing demand for data storage, hyperscale data centers are in wide use for numerous providers and a wide variety of purposes that include artificial intelligence (AI), automation, data analytics, data storage, data processing and other big data computing pursuits.  

“But, what makes Rowan different?” Flores asked.

Distinctions

She then listed several factors: 

• Transparency with the community, government, utilities and all stakeholders;

• Experts from the world’s leading tech companies – senior leadership comes from Amazon, Google, Meta and others; and

• Sustainability throughout development – from site selection to construction, to operations, through access to renewable energy, no need for major new transmission infrastructure, low carbon materials, innovative water strategy and more.

Energy Capacity

Project Cinco’s energy capacity measures up to 300 megawatts (300 MW) of power capacity within American Electric  Power’s (AEP’s) service territory; 60 MW by mid-2026, scaling to 150 MW in Sept. 2026 and 300 MW in 2028. A MW measures equivalent to 1 million watts or 1,000 kilowatts (kW).

Mitigation Efforts

Rowan voluntarily entered into a comprehensive construction management agreement to have a third party monitor the development to ensure that traffic, noise  and dust have minimal impact on nearby properties.

Water Concerns

  Flores said Rowan prioritizes responsible use of water, a prime concern. The project will incorporate air-cooled chillers with a closed, looped water system. That is, no continuous use of water will be employed for cooling.

The system does require an initial fill of approximately 1.8 million gallons (5.524 acre-feet of water), which is then used for 10-15 years. 

Project Benefits

Investment, Fiscal Net Benefits over 20 years and jobs generated by the Cinco Project have the potential to be:

Investment

• more than $900 million in vested in region over 20 years;

Total Fiscal Net Benefits

•MedinaCounty- $35,365,407;

• City of Lytle–$40,418,549;

• Lytle ISD–$49,291,559;

•Medina County Road District–$12,772,391;

• MC Groundwater Conservation–$1,069,495;

•MC Hospital District –$13,818,804;

• MC ESD#4–$7,694,212;

• MC ESD#5–$15,388,423

•Total Net Benefits for all local taxing districts– $175,818,840.

Jobs

• Cinco project will bring more than 600 construction jobs for local workers and nearly 200 permanent high-quality jobs,  including on-site and indirectly.

Community Engagement 

Flores said, “Because we believe in transparency,” Rowan has undertaken the following:

•  building meaningful relationships in the community with early and upfront engagement;

• always seeking to understand the important issues facing the community and exploring opportunities to collaborate long-term; and

• setting up a website Rowan-Medina.com to provide project updates. Residents can use the Contact page on the website to send feedback.

Thoughtful Design and 

Impact Mitigation

Rowan is committed to mitigating adverse construction impacts, Flores said, citing the following:

Design

• Property line buffers and native vegetation plantings

• Architectural down lighting that shields surroundings from light pollution.

Air & Sound Mitigation

• Dedicated sound barriers implemented to shield emergency back-up generators.

• Reduced dust emissions and noise during construction through water suppression, wheel wash stations and dust control;

• Transportation and delivery planning;

•Construction working hours complying with requirements of the authority having jurisdiction;

• Ambient noise study to inform basis of design.

Building Materials

• use of recycled steel and green concrete  (lower embodied options) when practicable.

Flores re-emphasized again Rowan’s desire for transparency and community engagement, encouraging the public to seek information and answers to questions at Rowan-Medina.com.