DENVER — According to a news release from the Niobrara Energy Park, recent CH2M HILL research shows promising international data center performance metrics for the project in northern Colorado, that will combine clean fossil fuels, alternative energy, Microgrid, energy storage and cloud computing data centers.

A 2-page summary can be downloaded here.

The project when fully built could contain 1.5 million square foot of data centers, a 200-megawatt clean natural gas plant, a 20-megawatt solar farm and a utility-scale fuel cell farm all valued near $2.4 billion. Additionally, the cloud data centers could house upward of $4 billion in computers.

CH2M HILL has just released the updated “Blue Book” emphasizing the site’s energy-efficiency potential of 60% lower carbon usage (CUE), 70% lower water usage (WUE) and 40% lower power usage (PUE) than US average benchmarks.

The vision of the project is to become the nation’s first hybrid natural gas/renewable energy data center park, according to Craig Harrison, the park’s founder. Admittedly, he is using the CH2M HILL study to help sell his data center concept to perspective tenants.

“In both short-term and long-term scenarios, Niobrara’s economic and energy-efficiency attractiveness compares very favorably with the numerous sites we compared,” says Harrison.

He points to the recent flurry of sizeable “green” data center investments by industry leaders as further validation of the Niobrara concept. This summer, Apple gained approval to build a $1 billion data center in Reno, Nevada. Apple’s existing Maiden, NC data center has both on-site solar and fuel cells. “These two Apple projects and Niobrara are the only projects in the US designed to combine energy creation and energy consumption, all within the confines of the project,” said Harrison.

In Wyoming, 15 miles away, Microsoft recently broke ground on a $112 million data center, and Green House Data announced a $35 million renewable energy-powered data center. The National Center for Atmospheric Research recently completed a data center boasting 96% free outdoor air cooling which houses IBM’s Yellowstone Supercomputer, one of the 10 fastest in the world. “The Wyoming developments provide proof of the plan,” adds Harrison, “since these projects are attached to the very same electric grid, fiber network, transportation and workforce as the Niobrara Data Center Energy Park. We believe this project is an unparalleled opportunity for a next-generation, energy-efficient data center campus.”

Learn more at www.niobraraenergypark.com.