Wind Powered Data Center in Urban Area

ComputerWorld writes of a new data center receiving permits for large wind turbines.

Wind power data center project planned in urban area

Will get part of its power from tall turbines in repurposed smokestack factory

April 20, 2008 (Computerworld) A developer who plans to build a data center in Fall River, Mass., about 50 miles south of Boston, will install two large wind turbines -- as tall as two high-rise buildings -- to help generate its electricity.

Roland Patenaude, a local developer, won local zoning board approval Thursday to install two wind turbines that can each be as high as 300 feet on an industrial-zoned 4.5-acre parcel. The parcel includes an existing but unused smokestack factory that's only a short walk from Fall River's government center.

If the effort to build the 120,000-square-foot data center goes ahead as planned, its wind turbines will likely be one of the largest wind-utilizing installations in a U.S. urban area, if not the largest. Fall River's population is about 91,000.