Amazon identified as tenant of Bauxite I data center project on former Alcoa Eastalco site
The data center project, which was approved by the Frederick County Planning Commission in January 2024, is known as Bauxite I. It will consist of four data center buildings identified in Amazon documents as BWI-150, BWI-151, BWI-152 and BWI-153.
Data centers store computing machines and server systems used to support cloud-based services. AWS spokesperson Brandon Scheller on Thursday said the Bauxite I project would be the company's first data center in Maryland.
A blog post from AWS on Thursday said the expansion into Maryland would be "instrumental in supporting the rapid growth of generative AI and advanced computing workloads" in the Northern Virginia region.
Representatives of Rowan and Amazon confirmed the partnership between the two companies at a public meeting organized by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) at Carroll Manor Elementary School on Thursday.
The purpose of the meeting was to inform the community about Amazon's request for a permit to construct 99 diesel generators to provide emergency backup power to the Bauxite I data center in the event of an outage or interruption.
Martin Romo, Rowan's senior director of economic development and policy, said on Thursday that the developer expects to complete its work on Bauxite I in either the fourth quarter of 2025 or the first quarter of 2026.
Rowan also has planning approval for two additional data center projects on the former Alcoa Eastalco Works site. Romo said the company could not yet confirm tenants for either of those projects, known as Bauxite II and Bauxite III.
Scheller said AWS expects to begin operations at Bauxite I sometime in 2026. Asked if the company has any plans for additional data centers in Maryland, Scheller said he could not comment on the road map for future projects.
AWS does not separate out which of its customers are served by which data center facilities. But Scheller said customers "across virtually every industry and of every size, including startups, enterprises, and public sector organizations" rely on AWS data centers.
Major customers listed on the AWS website include Salesforce, Duolingo, Venmo, Coinbase, DraftKings, Capital One, Pinterest, United Airlines, Coca-Cola, Nasdaq and more.
Emissions standards
Suna Yi Sariscak, a manager with MDE's Air Quality Permits Program, said the department received an application from Amazon in October 2024 for a permit to construct the diesel generators in connection with the Bauxite I project.
Of the 99 diesel generators requested by Amazon, 92 would have a generating capacity of 2,750 kilowatts.
Amazon is also requesting permission to construct six 750-kW diesel generators and one 250-kW diesel generator, according to the air permit application.
The proposed diesel generators would be "at multiple buildings within the data center campus," the application says.
Amazon's air permit application is subject to review under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's New Source Performance Standards.
The New Source Performance Standards apply to stationary sources that "cause, or contribute significantly to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare" according to the EPA.
Amazon was not required to apply for an air permit through Maryland's Title V Program for "major sources," defined by the EPA as a stationary source or group of stationary sources that emit or have the potential to emit 25 tons per year or more of hazardous air pollutants.
While the diesel generators proposed by Amazon do have the potential to go over the 25-ton threshold for hazardous air pollutants, the company plans to operate them only for emergencies, testing and maintenance, Sariscak said.
MDE has asked Amazon to include "regular" emergency operations due to brief power "blips" in its emissions calculations for the proposed generators, Sariscak said.
Operations during national or regional energy emergencies would not count toward the 25-ton limit.
If Amazon's generators were to exceed the 25-ton limit, MDE's compliance program would follow up and potentially require the company to apply for a new air permit, Sariscak said.
According to Amazon's air permit application, the company expects to test each generator for maintenance and readiness for less than 10 hours per year.
Scheller said AWS uses short-duration testing and maintenance procedures "on a staggered basis to ensure the reliability of our backup power systems." Testing typically takes about 15 minutes, he said.
Duncan Neasham, another spokesperson for AWS, said on Thursday that the company plans to use EPA Tier 2 generators on the Bauxite I project.
However, Neasham said, the Tier 2 generators used on the Bauxite I project will meet or exceed EPA Tier 4 standards, which are the strictest and most up-to-date regulations for diesel engines.
According to Scheller, AWS uses diesel engines because they are "the most scalable, available, cost-effective, and reliable technology to provide backup power for data centers."
AWS does not currently use other forms of backup power such as on-site battery storage for its data centers. But Scheller said the company is "constantly evaluating new and alternative solutions, including hydrogen and renewable diesel" in order to achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2040.
Another company, the Texas-based Aligned Data Centers, received an MDE permit on Jan. 30 to construct over 170 emergency generators with a combined capacity of 508 megawatts for its project on the former Alcoa Eastalco Works site.
The generators for Aligned's four planned data center buildings will also be Tier 2 according to the MDE permit. But they will reportedly have added pollution controls "to reduce emissions to levels similar to using Tier 4 engines."
Amazon in Frederick County
This is not the first time Amazon has sought to expand its data center operations into Frederick County.
The Frederick News-Post previously reported that in 2021, a proposal that would have brought AWS data centers to at least three communities in the southern part of the county fell through.
The failed proposal eventually became the subject of a public records battle between the county and the Sugarloaf Alliance.
The nonprofit group sought information about the role of AWS in the drafting of the Sugarloaf Treasured Landscape Management Plan, a preservation effort undertaken by the county's Livable Frederick Planning and Design Office.
Among the records obtained by the Sugarloaf Alliance were emails exchanged between county staff members, state employees and representatives from Amazon, as well as information about a non-disclosure agreement Frederick County's then-director of economic development signed with the company.
The records, which the county was ordered by a judge to release, also included draft maps showing that the proposed boundaries of the Sugarloaf Treasured Landscape Management Area were changed in accordance with the AWS proposal. The original boundaries were restored after the proposal fell through.
The 2021 proposal would have seen AWS invest roughly $30 billion in its Frederick County data center project over the course of 15 years.
Scheller said AWS should have a better idea of the economic impact of the current plan as the target operation date of 2026 draws closer.
According to Sariscak, the next step for MDE will be to conduct a technical review of Amazon's air permit application. If the department determines that the proposed equipment will comply with applicable air pollution regulations, it will propose a draft permit for public review and comment.
Construction of the generators cannot begin until a final permit is issued.
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