Overview:

  • Van Buren Township planning commission approves a substation for Google's 1-gigawatt data center after a five-hour meeting with around 100 residents in attendance.
  • The data center will use electricity equivalent to 800,000 homes and consume 2-3.6 million gallons of water daily.
  • Residents raise concerns about noise, property values, and eminent domain, while developers promise no property seizures and commit to using public rights of way.

A substation and switching station for Google’s planned 1-gigawatt data center in Van Buren Township received preliminary site plan approval Wednesday following a heated, five-hour meeting.

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Why it matters

A Google data center planned in Van Buren Township will consume as much electricity as 800,000 homes and up to 3.6 million gallons of water daily.

Who's making public decisions

The Van Buren Township Planning Commission approved preliminary site plans for the data center and associated substation.

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What to watch for next

Watch for final site plan approval from the planning commission for the data center switching station.

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“Our job is not to debate the moral aspects of whether you think AI is a good thing or bad thing,” Jeff Jahr, a township planning commissioner, said Wednesday night.

The commission’s concerns are with whether the proposal meets zoning ordinances, a bar the developers cleared, Jahr said.

DTE Energy and the transmission network operator ITC Holdings applied for the proposed high-voltage substation and switching station, which township documents show will occupy 9 acres within the boundaries of the “Project Cannoli” data center.

Commissioner Jackson Pahle made a motion to deny approval for the resolution, which was voted down.

“I’m still concerned about the burden placed on nearby residents through cumulative community and environmental impacts as well as infrastructure strain,” Pahle said.

The site likely wouldn’t be the first choice for the switching station if it were not tied to the data center, Pahle said, adding that approval could set a precedent for future proposals.

The data center has received significant pushback, with nearly 1,700 people signing a petition that says the project could impact the power grid, water resources, and utility bills.

DTE’s contract is expected to have nearly $1.7 billion in “positive affordability benefits” for customers, according to the utility.

DTE said in a Michigan Public Service Commission filing that contracts with Google include provisions to ensure the tech giant pays the full cost of serving its load and additional customer protections that require the company to cover new generation, storage, transmission, and distribution investments for the project.

Four-hundred-and-fifty megawatts of energy storage and 1.6 GW of renewable energy will serve Google’s data center, along with demand response capability to reduce load on high demand days, DTE said.

The planning commission granted preliminary site plan approval for the data center on Feb. 11.

The data center’s 1 GW of electricity use is roughly equivalent to the energy used by 800,000 homes. It will use 2 million to 3.6 million gallons of water a day, according to the township’s frequently asked questions document, and occupy 282 acres of property.

The plans for Project Cannoli call for filling in 10 acres of wetlands, and leaving 130 acres undeveloped.

Data center developers seek to allay eminent domain, noise concerns

Around 100 people filled the meeting room, with an overflow room holding at least a dozen others. Many residents said the switching station will create noise, damage property values, or property will be seized using eminent domain for power lines.

Van Buren Township resident Roberta Baldwin expressed concern that noise from the switching station could combine with noise from the data center to impact residents with disabilities and a nearby brain and spinal cord rehabilitation center.

Representatives for the developer, Panattoni Development Co., DTE, and ITC sought to allay concerns over fire risks at the switching yard. They denied that property would need to seize property with eminent domain, and said the project will use public rights of way for underground cables.

“We will not evict people from their homes; we will not take their property,” said Chuck Marshall, vice president at ITC.

In response to a resident’s question, Marshall agreed to put this promise in writing.

Cynthia Stump, ITC local government and community affairs manager, said ITC plans to use Wayne County Roads Division rights of way for underground cables. 

Trey Brice, attorney for the developers, said contracts have not been signed for all the needed land agreements.

Stump said the switching station would not create noise because it will not include any transformers.

Stump said the switching station’s “h-frames,” which she compared to football goal posts, will be 80 feet high. 

This means switching station infrastructure would be visible above an 8-to-15-foot berm and trees that are 10 feet tall or more, which Josh Capps, Pannatoni’s director of data center delivery, said the company plans for the project perimeter.

Township Planning Commissioner Bernard Grant was unmoved by developers’ assurances of minimal impacts, and supported Pahle’s failed motion to deny preliminary site approval. 

He expressed concerns about impacts to the nearby Wayne County Community College campus and the Haggerty subdivision. The neighborhood’s residents are taking on the risk for the project, he said.        

“I don’t know of any positive impact that this project has on the Haggerty subdivision.”

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Brian Allnutt is a senior reporter and contributing editor at Planet Detroit. He covers the climate crisis, environmental justice, politics and open space.