State regulators are drafting two air quality permits for Duke Energy and Amazon Data Services, connected to a major new data center project in Hamlet. Amazon plans to build its $10 billion Energy Way Tech Campus data center in Hamlet in Richmond County, with some help from the utility.
The facility falls in a census tract designated by the state Department of Environmental Quality as potentially disadvantaged. An Amazon report concluded that Richmond County is “within the two least healthy ranges for the state.”
The project will include 21 buildings supported by 1,600 megawatts of diesel generation, according to the company’s application. That’s more than some utility-scale power plants and enough to power over one million homes. The permits would allow Amazon to operate the generators, emitting between 100 and 250 tons of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds annually. Additionally, the project would result in high particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and benzene emissions.
Duke Energy’s Richmond County Combustion Turbine Facility plans to construct 57 new diesel generators on Amazon’s property. The generators would operate for one year while Amazon builds its backup power supply.
The census tract where Amazon plans to build is already considered “highly burdened” by the CDC Social Vulnerability Index, with Black and Indigenous populations higher than the state average.
State regulators said that the facility would be a “minor source” of hazardous air pollutants, and “the facility’s emissions of toxic air pollutants are not expected to cause an exceedance of any health-based acceptable level under state law.
The public hearing will take place Thursday, July 30, at the Old Richmond County Courthouse in Rockingham, an hour and a half east of Charlotte.
To comment on the draft permits, email the North Carolina Division of Air Quality with the subject line “Amazon.25A and DukeRichmond.26C” or call 919-707-8726. Identify which draft permit—Amazon, Duke Energy, or both—you are commenting on. The public comment period ends July 31.
Comments can also be mailed to:
NCDEQ Division of Air Quality
1628 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1628
