Cordova Electric pursues small data center deal as seafood revenue slumps

A weak seafood season is reducing Cordova Electric Cooperative's power sales, and the utility says it is getting closer to finalizing a deal it has pursued for years: a small data center inside a storage bay at its warehouse on LeFevre Avenue, providing the kind of steady, year-round load that fish processing cannot.

Cordova Electric Cooperative, the sole provider of electric energy in Cordova, said in its summer update that a current agreement would place a 500 kWh facility inside a storage bay at its warehouse on LeFevre Avenue. The cooperative has been running on 100% hydropower for the past three months, but low seafood catch and processing volumes this summer have reduced power sales to the point where rate increases are under consideration.

"This summer is example of how low seafood catch and processing results in lower power sales, forcing CEC to consider rate increases to generate enough revenue to meet our local energy needs," the cooperative said. "A data industry would provide the additional revenues necessary to fill in the gap and take pressure off our residential, commercial, and seafood processing rates."

Addressing concerns from other communities

The cooperative has worked with the data company to address concerns that larger facilities have raised elsewhere. The proposed facility would use a closed-loop cooling system requiring no water, produce noise levels the cooperative describes as nominal and below what the property has seen before, and require no grid upgrades, highway access, housing, or water and sanitary services from the city. The cooperative also said the project would generate new property and sales tax revenue for the City of Cordova.

A load that does not follow the fish

CEC's hydropower capacity runs whether or not there is demand to absorb it, and much of that generation currently goes unused, the cooperative explained. CEC has spent two decades trying to grow its load base, adding a permanent winter incentive rate for residential users and programs to encourage heat pumps and electric vehicles; it is also considering purchasing or financing electric boilers for use at community facilities. The cooperative says a data center represents a qualitatively different kind of load, one that does not fluctuate with fish runs or seasons and would provide revenue to offset gaps left by seasonal seafood processing.

The cooperative did not specify a timeline for finalizing the agreement or beginning construction. Members with questions can attend CEC's regular monthly meetings or its annual meeting in March.