Data Center Construction in Port Lavaca and Calhoun County

A remote industrial site has to be self-sufficient, and a data center for one has to carry that idea further than most. In Port Lavaca and Calhoun County we build compute space for large plants and port facilities where the nearest big city is an hour away, where the road to the site passes through working industrial land, and where the data hall must keep running on its own fuel and its own cooling if the area is cut off. We plan the power, the fuel, the spare parts and the crew housing before we draw the building.

The Calhoun Port Authority's directions to its Point Comfort facilities route traffic from Victoria on US 87 south to Port Lavaca, then onto Texas 35 toward Point Comfort. That single route tells you much about the logistics: one corridor, a few turns, and no alternative for oversize loads unless it is surveyed in advance. We survey it.

The sections below set out how we handle a rural coastal project, from labor to commissioning.

A Victoria Economic Development Corporation article dated July 16, 2017 reports that a plastics producer was investing $5 billion in a plant expansion at Point Comfort, adding about 800 acres in Jackson County to bring the plant to 2,300 acres, with about 140 permanent jobs in Jackson County and 200 in Calhoun County. The same article says the company had 2,066 full-time employees and 922 full-time contract staff in Calhoun County and paid about 33 percent of the county's taxes.

A chemical manufacturer's page for its Seadrift site says it spans about 4,700 acres, employs more than 1,200 people and includes nine production plants, eight owned by the manufacturer and one owned by another company. These are large employers in a small county, and the data they generate has to be stored and protected. A facility close to the plant reduces latency and gives local staff direct access. For the operators, we also coordinate with utilities and power developers whose projects share the same corridors.

In a remote setting, the generator yard is not a backup so much as a second utility. We size fuel storage for the outage the owner is willing to accept, add a second fill point and plan for deliveries over a reduced road network. Spare parts such as filters, belts, fuses and breakers are stocked in a secure room, since waiting for a part from a distant supplier can be the longest outage of all. Our generator yards and fuel systems page lists the equipment in a typical yard.

Cooling is designed for simplicity. We favor systems that can be maintained by a small crew, with accessible components and few exotic parts. The trade-off is sometimes a larger footprint or less efficient operation, and we are open about it. A reliable plant that a technician can fix in an hour is worth more than a clever plant that takes a week.

The Calhoun Port Authority states that the Matagorda Ship Channel opened to traffic in 1965, that the Point Comfort dry bulk dock is 700 feet long with a current depth of 38 feet, and that its liquid product piers have a 38-foot current depth with a 47-foot design depth, all measured at Mean Lower Low Water. A National Hurricane Center update dated August 26, 2017 reported that a NOAA tide gauge at Port Lavaca recently measured a water level of 6.2 feet above Mean Higher High Water.

The numbers together tell us two things. The channel can handle large vessels, which helps with heavy equipment. The bay can rise by several feet in a storm, which affects pad elevation. We set elevations with the flood engineer, locate fuel and electrical equipment above the design level and design the access road so that it is not the first thing to flood. See truck courts and access roads for the road standards we use.

Remote sites change the cost of labor. Workers may travel a long way each day or need lodging nearby, and the supply of rental equipment is thinner. We plan accommodations, per diem and shift lengths, and we reserve cranes and specialty tools early. Concrete is another issue: batch plant distance can limit the size of a pour, so we plan joints and pour sizes to match haul time.

With phased expansion build-outs, we can start with a modest first building and add as the plant grows. That avoids paying for idle capacity and allows the owner to learn from the first operating year.

Distance shows up in the budget in four places: labor travel and lodging, equipment mobilization, material delivery and the cost of delay when something is missing. A remote project also needs more temporary facilities, including a field office, restrooms, laydown space, fuel and power for tools. We itemize each one so that the owner sees the actual cost of the location.

There are offsetting savings. Land may be inexpensive, neighbors may be few and permitting may be less crowded. A plant-side hall avoids long-haul fiber and gives local staff direct access. We prepare a comparison with sites in Corpus Christi or Houston-area parks so the owner can decide with a delivered number.

A remote facility depends on a small operating team, so commissioning doubles as training. We invite the operators to witness factory tests, to follow each system start-up and to run the integrated tests themselves under our supervision. Procedures are written with them, and the final documentation includes the schedules, spare parts lists and vendor contacts that a small crew needs when something fails at night.

Our integrated systems commissioning approach also includes a seasonal re-check. A system that works in winter may behave differently in the heat and humidity of summer on the bay, so we return to verify performance when the climate changes.

The customers are plants, port tenants and the public agencies that serve a rural county. They need a small number of megawatts in a rugged building. Government and defense operators may also need emergency operations space.

We tailor each project to its owner's risk model. A plant may already have hazard studies and safety rules we must follow. A county may have procurement requirements. A developer may want a speculative building that can serve several tenants. We ask the questions early, and we shape the scope to suit.

Send the location, the outage tolerance and the staff who will operate the facility. We will return a building and yard concept, a logistics plan and a schedule. Nearby options include Victoria and Freeport.

How do you plan for a remote site with one main road?

We survey the route for height, weight and turning limits, and we confirm permits for oversize loads. We stage materials to avoid blocking the road during peak plant traffic. We also have backup suppliers for critical items.

How long should a generator yard run without refueling?

That depends on the owner's outage tolerance and on how quickly fuel can be delivered after a storm. In remote locations we generally recommend more storage than in a city. We price the options so the choice is clear.

How does the bay affect design?

Water levels can rise by several feet in a storm, so we set pad elevation, equipment height and road grade with a flood engineer. The goal is a building that remains operational and reachable.

Can you build for large plants on their own land?

Yes. We follow the plant's contractor requirements, including safety orientation, permits and access control. Our schedules include time for these steps.