Updated: Plans filed for 6 million-square-foot data center complex south of New Castle

The proposed complex on 580-acre  project was first reported by the Philadelphia Business Journal. (subscription required).

If fully built out, the site would be one of the largest data centers in the nation and would represent a multi-billion dollar investment,  generating hundreds of construction and operations jobs.

The Business Journal listed one of the parties involved in the project as a subsididary of  PBF Energy, the operator of the nearby refinery. Listed on the county  application is Starwood Capital Group Management.

Starwood's, a global company,  is based in Miami Beach and has an office in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Arlington, VA.

According to the Business Journal, PBF has expressed an interest in data centers in investor updates.

New Castle Councilman Kevin Caneco, whose district includes the data center site, said plans are in in their early stages with a 12 to 18 month approval process. 

The Business Journal reported development of the site  would come in two phases and would likely  occur over a long timeframe. 

Caneco, a critic of warehouse development in areas near homes in the county, said the site is located in a suitable area near a Delmarva Power  substation that could provide power for the project.

The councilman said he will  insist on adequate buffers and other steps to make the development a good neighbor.

He noted that data centers would not come with truck traffic issues that accompany warehouse development, he noted. 

Data centers have emerged as the hottest area in commercial real estate and it is possible the site is being positioned for companies seeking locations in the Mid-Atlantic. 

Much of the data center activity has been taking place in the Washington, DC area. 

The need for data centers has grown due to the explosive-growth of  AI applications in all areas of business and government.

Delaware, unlike some states, hasn't publicly reported plans  to make data centers a development  priority. However, a spokesperson for the state's economic development entity noted that the state's location is a plus.

"Data centers are one of the hottest project trends across the U.S. right now. Given Delaware’s tax structure and its other favorable features, our state would be a highly competitive location for almost any company looking to establish a data center," stated Susan Coulby, spokesperson for the Delaware Prosperity Partnership.

More than a decade ago, a proposed  data center on the University of Delaware STAR Campus  met fierce opposition from some Newark residents and environmental activists over a natural gas-fired power plant that would power the site.

Plans were later dropped  with the university focusing  other types of development at the site of the former Chrysler plant.

Since that time more than a decade ago, the need for massive  amounts of electricity to power banks of servers has not gone away.

The latest proposed  site is near natural gas pipelines and refinery  infrastructure that could be used in powering data centers. Bloom Energy, which has a plant in Newark, has been targeting data centers for its fuel cells that are normally powered by natural gas.

Bloom also operates a bank of fuel cells in the vicinity of the site that feed electricity into the Delmarva Power grid. The fuel cells were part of an agreement that brought a Bloom Energy site to Delaware more than a decade ago.

Bloom fuel cells operate around the clock and could supplement electrical power coming into the data center complex. 

Caneco would not comment on any plans to power the data center. 

To the north, tech giant Microsoft earlier announced an agreement that calls for the opening of a unit at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg, PA. The reopened generator would  provide power for a data center.