One Million Hours Down ...
The “Shell” for the first of several data centers at the Cosner Tech Campus is nearing completion — it’s taken 900 workers and 1,000,000 work hours to get it to this point.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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On a rainy, cool Thursday morning, Turner Construction workers and Amazon representatives gathered at a festively decorated lunch site near the data center shell under construction at the Cosner Tech Campus in Spotsylvania.
They were there to celebrate one million labor hours on the job with zero loss time incidents, and the ways that the 900 workers on-site daily are giving back to the Spotsylvania community.
Triple P Vending, which supplies vending machines for workers on-site, is contributing 5% of its profits to Spreading Smiles, a Fredericksburg nonprofit set up by Renato’s Restaurant to serve needy school children and their families. Turner Construction matched those funds. Elisa Bonilla of Renato’s accepted the more than $1,200 that have been raised so far.
In April alone, Spreading Smiles has provided 6,976 meals, an equal number of snacks, and packed 1,744 meal bags for school-aged children facing homelessness.
In addition, Turner is also operating a food drive for the students of Cedar Forest Elementary School in Spotsylvania. Targeted at students who face food insecurity, the food gathered will be used to help ensure that over the summer these students have meals and snacks to sustain them until school resumes in August.
Safety First
Amason’s Jeff McCormick discusses safety at the Cosner Tech Campus.
A million hours on a job site with no lost-time incidents speaks to the importance that is placed on safety during construction.
According to McCormick, there has only been one reported injury over the past million hours of construction, which began in December 2023, and that one individual was back at work the next day.
“We care about others first,” said a Turner speaker during the celebratory event, “that’s how we achieve this.”
At the end of the day, that impressive safety record is the reflection of superior communication on the site. The speaker highlighted practices like setting up safe perimeters when digging trenches, and keeping people aware when electricians are working in a particular site.
Just the Beginning
Spotsylvania Supervisor Kevin Marshall discusses the work being done at the Cosner Tech Campus and the givebacks to the community.
Spotsylvania Supervisor Kevin Marshall also attended the event and noted that this is just the beginning.
There will be four data center campuses built in Spotsylvania, and one that straddles Spotsylvania and Caroline County. At full buildout, some 36 data centers will be constructed.
Together, these data centers will produce tens of millions in revenue for the county.
In the next two months, the shell the Advance was able to see today is expected to receive its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy. Issued by the fire marshal, the TOC signifies that the building is ready to start turning on components. It will still be some time, however, before the site becomes fully operational.
Nonetheless, the site has already begun generating tax revenue for the county.
The Cosner site will have two substations; neither are visible from the road. Asked about concerns expressed by many citizens about the amount of power data centers draw, an Amazon representative noted that the company is making significant investments in Virginia to strengthen energy production. This includes installing solar sites, which help make the grid cleaner, and in the near future using small modular nuclear reactors.
Information provided by Amazon states that the company “has invested in 19 solar farms in Virginia, with a capacity that totals over 1,386 MW – about a quarter of all solar installed in Virginia to date.” Further, “Amazon is the #1 largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world for the past 5 years.”
Regarding SMRs, in Virginia Amazon has “signed an agreement with utility company Dominion Energy to explore the development of an SMR project near Dominion’s existing North Anna nuclear power station. This will bring at least 300 megawatts of power to the Virginia region, where Dominion projects that power demands will increase by 85% over the next 15 years.
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