A new data center built to be sustainable in both its energy and water use has opened in Aurora.
The new Edged data center, at 2835 Bilter Road, will save hundreds of millions of gallons of water each year compared to traditional data centers because it will not draw in any water from the community to cool its servers, company officials said at a ribbon-cutting for the new facility on Wednesday.
The newly-opened data center is the first of three planned for the site, which is set to eventually reach a capacity of 96 megawatts, according to Edged Chief Operating Officer Mitch Fonseca.
“As the region continues to attract top tech talent, and AI infrastructure continues to increase in popularity, new and innovative infrastructure solutions are critical to meet the growing demand,” Fonseca said during a speech at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
With Edged’s facility optimized for both water and energy conservation, the data center can “support Aurora’s fast growing digital economy while being environmentally conscious and energy efficient,” he said.
In addition to saving nearly 380 million gallons of water when fully built out, as compared to traditional data centers, Edged’s data center campus also “slashes energy overhead by half,” according to Fonseca. He said these savings will also translate to lower costs for the company’s customers, who are expected to save $95 million over the life of just the first building.
Everything Edged builds, all the way down to its backup generators, which “virtually eliminate direct air emissions,” is focused on “sustainability and being good neighbors,” Fonseca said.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Edged employees gave tours of the new facility, highlighting its modular design, multiple redundant power-generating backups and advanced cooling technology that does not require drawing any water into the facility.
This waterless cooling technology — which was designed by ThermalWorks, a sister company to Edged that are both subsidiaries of Endeavour — can even use the ambient outdoor cold air during many months of the year to cool its facility, according to one of the tour guides.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Fonseca clarified that, when the company refers to “waterless” cooling, it actually means that there is no water waste. A water-glycol mixture is used, but it is completely recycled, he said.
As for whether or not the data center will be powered by renewable energy, that will be up to Edged’s customers, which are typically large enterprise, “hyperscalers” and cloud service providers, according to Fonseca. He said customers pay for the energy they use, and if some are looking to purchase renewable or carbon-free energy, then Edged is “more than happy” to accommodate.
ComEd will be providing the energy for this project, and the company’s Senior Vice President of Customer Operations and Strategic Initiatives, Melissa Washington, also spoke at Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting.
Lots of data centers want to come to the region, and ComEd is “honored by that” and does its part to make sure it has the infrastructure to support those facilities, but Edged is special because it innovates to make its data centers “in the most sustainable way possible,” Washington said in a speech before the ribbon-cutting.
She is “super excited,” she said, because she expects these things will catch on among other data center builders.
“They’re going to want to copy what they’ve seen here today,” Washington said.
Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, who also spoke at the event, said the thing he most admires about Edged is its commitment to sustainability.
“Edged is demonstrating how technology and environmental stewardship can go hand in hand,” Irvin said during his speech. “This is precisely the kind of responsible development that aligns with Aurora’s vision for a sustainable and prosperous future.”
Edged has already invested nearly $300 million just to build the first of the three planned data center buildings on its campus on Bilter Road, according to Fonseca. He said during his speech that construction of the full campus will create around 2,000 construction jobs along with permanent high-quality tech jobs for the local community.
When asked after the ribbon-cutting ceremony when construction may begin on the rest of the campus, Fonseca said it would depend on customer demand. Edged is already in talks with a number of customers to be anchor tenants for those buildings, he said.
Beyond the economic investment and job creation, Edged will be “working with individuals, businesses and local groups to find new and important ways to contribute to community well-being and leverage the benefits of this major technology infrastructure investment,” according to Elda Bruza, director of project management at Endeavour and president of Endeavour Women In Tech.
That community contribution started on Wednesday at the ribbon-cutting with a donation drive for Hesed House, Aurora’s homeless shelter.
“I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the entire Edged team for choosing Aurora as your home,” Irvin said during his speech. “We’re excited to see the lasting impact this facility will bring to our community, from job creation and economic growth, to innovation and community support.”
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
