A large data center complex, consisting of six buildings at 220,000 square feet each – the equivalent in square feet to five Wildwood Convention Centers – is nearing completion in Vineland.
The campus, being developed by the Netherlands-based Nebius Group in partnership with DataOne, will also host a four-story office building and a parking garage. Total square footage is estimated at 2.6 million.
The center, located in an industrial zone near the intersection of South Lincoln Avenue and Sheridan Avenue, is scheduled to begin operation by December and to be fully completed by the end of 2026.
As to the complex’s electricity needs, it is designed for an initial power capacity of 300 megawatts, with potential for further expansion that could take the power requirements to the 1 gigawatt range. The complex incorporates onsite power generation to ease initial demands on the local grid.
Further plans for the power needs of the site, especially if it expands, have not been provided. Data centers’ high needs for electricity are a central part of the debate about steeply rising electricity costs.
New Jersey has 79 data centers in 18 markets concentrated near New York City. The new Vineland facility will be the closest to Cape May County and is part of the growth trajectory of such facilities in the last few years.
According to the Synergy Research Group, a marketing firm, the “hyperscale” data center count as of the end of 2024 stood at 1,136, of which 54% were constructed in the United States. The average size of the data centers in this country has increased, and their number has doubled in just five years.
Major cloud computing providers, including Microsoft, Amazon and Google, are major contributors to this growth. The technology drive in the surge is the running of artificial intelligence to feed a vast array of developing uses.
Market monitor Monitoring Analytics released a report Oct. 1 that showed the vast majority of PJM Interconnection’s capacity auction pricing was driven by data center-projected consumption. PJM Interconnection is the regional electricity grid operator for all or parts of 13 states, including New Jersey, and its annual capacity auction plays a big role in electricity bills.
“Data center load growth is the primary reason for recent and expected capacity market conditions, including total forecast load growth, the tight supply and demand balance, and high prices,” the report said.
The problem of rising electricity prices, which has created a strong public backlash against PJM, state energy policies, regulators and electricity distribution utilities, is being caused by the very rapid growth in electricity demand from data centers, according to the report.
Another report, from the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that several states, including New Jersey, paid, through ratepayer billing, $4.4 billion from 2022 to 2024 to support local transmission projects to support data centers.
This all suggests strongly that the problem elected officials must carefully grapple with is how utility expenses are distributed as pricing. At present much of the cost is falling on the shoulders of the average ratepayer.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
