Collocating Data Centers and Indoor Agriculture

Nowadays, many economic developers are dealing with issues related to data centers.  These include challenges related to high energy use, noise, traffic issues, and the impact of data centers on community budgets.   When it comes to approving new data center developments, there are many tough issues to consider.  But, a new study from Southern Virginia highlights an interesting opportunity that links data center development to the development of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) opportunities. 

This research study focuses on the emerging indoor agriculture sector now developing in Danville VA with support from the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research and GO Virginia Region 3. It finds strong synergies from the colocation of data centers and indoor agriculture facilities.  This model of clustering has been tested in the Netherlands and has generated positive impacts.  CEA facilities benefit from data center waste heat that can be used to provide energy, heating and CO2 for farming purposes.  At the same time, CEA facilities generate more and more sustainable onsite job opportunities for local people. While colocation may not work for all regions, this type of clustering might offer a means to support data center development while also advancing other local economic development objectives.