The Lyon County Planning Commission, during its July 8 meeting,unanimously recommended approval of Copia Power Devco LLC’s request for a master plan amendment from Agriculture to Specific Plan for its proposed 1,000MW data center.
If fully approved, Monarch Data Center will be made up of 14 separate buildings across two adjacent parcels. The northern parcel is roughly 240 acres and located at 150 Penrose Lane. The southern parcel is approximately 265 acres at 155 Penrose Lane.
L&M Family Limited Partnership is listed as the owner of the northern parcel, while Masini Investments appears as the owner of the southern parcel. While the owners appear as different entities, they are, in fact, owned by the same party. The overall owner was not identified in the submitted materials.
The application was prepared by Environmental Resources Management. A traffic impact study was prepared by Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.
The northern parcel, called Campus One, will feature a substation, a switching station and eight detached data center buildings. Campus Two is planned to have an additional substation and the six remaining data center buildings. In its entirety, the 14 buildings are to provide 4.6MSF of data center space.
Plans also call for battery energy storage systems, a natural gas energy generation system and a proposed gen-tie route to connect to an expanded Fort Churchill substation. The natural gas energy generation system will have a capacity of up to 500MW and utilize single-cycle combustion turbines.
To the north and east of the site is land currently owned by the Nevada Department of Wildlife. This land is part of the Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area. Immediately to the east is an existing north-south above-ground utility corridor.
The location was selected to be near the Walker River Substation Complex as well as the expansion of the Fort Churchill Substation. The Walker River Complex is currently under construction.
Once complete, it will serve as a link between Greenlink West and Greenlink North. The Greenlink projects, currently under construction by NV Energy, are intended to bring renewable energy to the area to sustain growth. West is expected to be complete by May 2027, while North is anticipated to finish in December 2028.
Monarch Data Center will not need water or sewer hookups/extensions. It will also provide its own gen-tie to the substation, meaning it will have its own dedicated transmission line connecting to the power generation facilities.
Current plans prioritize waterless cooling systems. This does not, however, remove the necessity of water for cooling purposes. Water used for cooling will come from privately held water sources to avoid diminishing resources for nearby residents.
Economic Impact
The application indicates the project, in its entirety, will carry an overall investment of $11B. The application goes on to say it will create “1,400 direct and indirect jobs related to the construction of the facility, including $79M in wage and salary income, and ongoing jobs through operations.”
Sales tax revenues during construction are expected to generate $16M for the State of Nevada and $8M for local governments.
Once complete, operations are expected to generate around $562K in annual property taxes. This will serve local governments and districts. More specifically, this is expected to provide the Lyon County School District with $200K annually, and $150K for Lyon County directly. Remaining tax revenues will be divided among the local hospital, fire protection services and pool districts.
Location and Resident Concerns
The application states the Lyon County Land Use and Development Code allows light industrial land use, which includes warehousing, light manufacturing and outdoor storage. Therefore, developers find the proposed data center is a complementary land use for the area.
The application goes on to say the adjacent land uses would not have substantial impacts from the proposed data center and its uses. The data center is proposed in a low-population area and has a minimal quantity of surrounding structures.
Aerial imagery indicated the nearest residence is around 1,600 feet away. Developers also found the data center will not diminish the availability of farmland, nor will it impact the viability of agricultural land.
Despite this, many residents attended the meeting with concerns surrounding traffic, property values, neighborhood character and nearby water sources.
Access is to be provided via Penrose Lane, roughly 1.5 miles east of the Highway 95 and Penrose Lane intersection. The Nevada Department of Transportation has classified Penrose Lane as a “Local Road,” meaning its daily traffic is roughly between 0-400 vehicles.
The accessway off Penrose Lane will proceed to branch off into six separate driveways for the northern campus and four for the southern campus.
As data centers typically do not cause a large volume of traffic, the application states that, once constructed, the data center will not have an adverse effect on local traffic. Furthermore, while construction is ongoing, more than half of the related trips are to occur outside of peak traffic hours.
Prior to the Planning Commission taking its vote, representatives of Copia Power specified the recommendation would not fully approve the project but would allow the company to further pursue it and provide more information.