By Stacey Tinsley, Bossier Press-Tribune
Members of the Bossier City Lions Club heard about the growing data center industry in Northwest Louisiana during their Thursday, Sept. 24, meeting.
Ashley Busada, director of community engagement with STACK Infrastructure, spoke to the club about the company’s projects in the region and answered questions about water use, noise, land, construction and the impact on local businesses.
STACK is developing data center campuses in Bossier and Caddo parishes in partnership with Amazon. Amazon announced in August that its planned investment in Northwest Louisiana had increased from $12 billion to $18 billion and expanded to include a third planned campus in Shreveport. The three campuses are expected to create up to 750 full-time Amazon data center jobs and support an additional 2,500 positions in the broader community.
Busada said the large parcels of land involved in the projects do not necessarily mean all of the property will be developed with data center buildings.
She explained that some property can serve as buffer space, accommodate wetlands and provide room for future possibilities. She also said security requirements can make it necessary for a data center operator to control an entire site rather than divide the property among multiple uses.
Busada said the development is already creating work for local companies. She pointed to local contractors and businesses that have hired additional employees or expanded their operations because of increased demand connected to data center construction.
She also noted that established companies already involved in the data center industry are seeing additional business from the projects.
Water use was another topic discussed during the meeting.
Busada said some of the water used in cooling systems is recycled, while some is lost through evaporative cooling. She said the amount recycled depends on the technology and how an individual data center is operated.
Amazon has said it plans to invest up to $400 million in public water infrastructure supporting its three Northwest Louisiana campuses. The company has also said the necessary water and wastewater infrastructure improvements will be funded by Amazon.
Noise was also discussed. Busada said data centers must follow local noise regulations and said STACK’s facilities would remain within the limits established by local governments.
She said some of the noise people may hear around current projects is related to construction, which is temporary. Once facilities are operating, much of the sound comes from equipment and machinery.
Busada also told the Lions that construction activity was underway at the Bossier Parish site north of Benton, with dirt work continuing and preparations being made for the first building pad.
The regional data center development was originally announced as a $12 billion investment in February. STACK said the initial development was expected to generate more than 1,500 construction jobs and more than 540 permanent full-time jobs once operational.
The expanded Amazon investment now includes three planned campuses across Bossier and Caddo parishes and Shreveport, making data center development one of the larger ongoing projects in the Northwest Louisiana region.