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The project was proposed, not built. In 2013, The Data Centers LLC (TDC) proposed a roughly 900,000-square-foot data center on 43 acres of the University of Delaware’s STAR Campus near Newark. Its defining feature was a proposed 279-megawatt natural-gas cogeneration plant intended to let the facility operate independently of the utility grid. On July 10, 2014, the university terminated TDC’s lease, citing the plant’s scale, emissions concerns, uncertain year-round use of recovered heat, and poor fit with the campus’s science-and-technology mission.
A $1 billion data-center proposal in Newark
TDC’s plan was announced in 2013 for a 43-acre portion of the University of Delaware’s 272-acre STAR Campus, the former Chrysler Newark assembly site being redeveloped as a research and technology district.
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According to the 2013 project description, TDC envisioned approximately 900,000 square feet of data-center space and more than $1 billion in total investment. The first two construction phases were estimated at about $400 million. The company expected the first facilities to become operational in late 2014 and identified the University of Delaware among potential tenants.
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What “off the grid” meant
In this proposal, “off the grid” meant generating electricity behind the utility meter and operating as an island during normal conditions or grid disruptions. It did not mean the site would have no connection to outside infrastructure.
The proposed system would still have depended on natural-gas deliveries, water, roads, communications, permitting, equipment suppliers, and other public and private infrastructure. It also contemplated a separate electrical substation and the possibility of selling surplus generation to the grid.
The proposed energy flow
- Natural gas would enter the site through two proposed independent supply lines.
- Gas turbines and gas engines would generate electricity for the data center.
- Recovered exhaust heat would produce steam.
- Steam turbines could generate additional electricity.
- Absorption chillers would use recovered heat to support cooling.
- Excess electricity could potentially be exported to the grid or used for demand-response purposes.
This was TDC’s proposed configuration, as described in contemporary project materials—not an operational system whose performance was demonstrated in Delaware.
Why self-generation appealed to the developer
Data centers require continuous, high-quality power. A behind-the-meter generation plant can offer several potential advantages:
- More control over reliability: The operator can design generation, controls, cooling, and backup systems around the computing load rather than relying entirely on utility service.
- Less exposure to grid interruptions: Island operation may reduce dependence on transmission and distribution equipment outside the campus.
- Potentially faster deployment: A developer may seek to avoid waiting for all utility upgrades needed to serve a very large load.
- Combined heat and power: Using waste heat for steam or absorption cooling can improve overall fuel utilization when there is a dependable heat demand.
- Energy-market flexibility: TDC said long-term gas contracts and possible sales of excess power could support the project’s economics.
None of these benefits is automatic. Independence from the electric grid shifts responsibility to the facility owner for turbines, engines, heat-recovery equipment, chillers, controls, gas service, maintenance, emissions compliance, and trained plant operators.
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The scale of the proposed plant
The University of Delaware’s July 2014 announcement identified a 279-megawatt cogeneration facility. Some contemporary accounts rounded the figure to 278 MW, but 279 MW is the principal figure in the university’s official account.
UD’s working group said the proposed facility was at least twice the size of any other on-site data-center generation facility known to it in the United States at that time. That was a 2014 comparison, not a statement about the size of modern data-center power projects.
The plant’s scale mattered because it made the power-generation component more than a conventional backup system. It introduced the characteristics of a major industrial energy facility—fuel infrastructure, air permitting, cooling systems, emissions controls, and a substantial physical presence—into a campus marketed around research, science, and technology.
The economic case was based on projections
TDC presented the project as an economic-development opportunity. Its 2013 materials projected:
| Category | 2013-era projection |
|---|---|
| Total investment | More than $1 billion |
| First two construction phases | Approximately $400 million |
| Direct employment | Approximately 370 full-time jobs |
| Associated workers | More than 90 workers linked to tenants, vendors, consultants, and related businesses |
| Potential property taxes | Approximately $20 million combined for Newark, New Castle County, and the Christina School District |
| Public infrastructure support | A $7.5 million Delaware infrastructure grant tied to items including gas and water service and a new electrical substation |
These figures described expected benefits if the project proceeded. Because the lease was terminated before the data center was built, the investment, jobs, tax revenue, and reliability improvements were not realized outcomes.
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Engineering and environmental questions
Emissions from a large gas plant
Natural gas and cogeneration can be more efficient than some fossil-fuel alternatives, but a large natural-gas plant is not emissions-free. The proposal would have produced greenhouse gases and conventional air pollutants.
TDC proposed controls including selective catalytic reduction and oxidation catalysts. The air-quality permitting comments also addressed issues such as nitrogen-oxide controls, ammonia slip associated with selective catalytic reduction, and particulate matter from cooling towers. Emissions controls reduce pollutants; they do not eliminate the environmental and permitting implications of fossil-fuel generation.
Could the waste heat be used all year?
The efficiency case for combined heat and power depends on having a useful destination for recovered heat. A data center has a large, steady cooling requirement, but the economics and efficiency of an absorption-chiller system still depend on how the thermal system operates across seasons and load conditions.
UD’s working group said TDC had not clearly demonstrated that enough recovered heat could be used or sold efficiently throughout the year, particularly outside the summer months. That question became central to the university’s evaluation.
Cooling towers and water
The proposal included cooling towers as well as absorption chillers. Cooling towers require water management and can create air-quality considerations. The permitting materials identified particulate matter associated with dissolved solids in cooling water as one issue requiring attention.
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Two gas lines did not remove every fuel risk
TDC proposed two independent natural-gas lines to improve resilience. A dual-line arrangement can reduce dependence on one connection, but it cannot eliminate risks involving pipeline interruptions, fuel contracts, pressure, maintenance, regional gas availability, or failures in the site’s own gas-handling equipment.
Why the University of Delaware ended the project
On July 10, 2014, the University of Delaware terminated TDC’s lease. In its official announcement, UD said the proposal was not consistent with its vision for a first-class science and technology campus.
The university’s working group identified several concerns:
- The proposed fossil-fuel plant was unusually large.
- Its greenhouse-gas and other pollutant emissions raised concerns.
- TDC had not clearly established that recovered heat could be used or sold efficiently throughout the year.
- The generation component had become a more prominent part of the proposal than initially anticipated.
- The project appeared inconsistent with the university’s sustainability and carbon-reduction commitments.
The decision was therefore not simply a rejection of data centers or a response to protests. It was an institutional judgment about the project’s design, environmental profile, scale, and compatibility with STAR Campus.
Faculty and community opposition
The proposal became controversial among Newark residents, environmental groups, faculty, students, and other community members. The University of Delaware Faculty Senate voted 43–0, with eight abstentions, to recommend against proceeding while the project included a fossil-fuel-burning power plant, according to the senate report.
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Local reporting documented the wider dispute, including concerns about the project’s industrial character, emissions, and long-term effect on the campus and surrounding community. Those objections formed part of the public controversy, while UD’s formal decision rested on the university’s own working-group findings and campus-planning judgment.
What the cancellation means for construction and infrastructure planning
The Delaware proposal illustrates a recurring infrastructure trade-off: a technically ambitious energy system can solve one constraint while creating several others.
| Potential benefit | Corresponding risk or requirement |
|---|---|
| Reduced dependence on utility power | Greater dependence on gas supply, plant maintenance, and on-site controls |
| Potentially lower energy costs | Exposure to capital costs, gas prices, maintenance, staffing, insurance, and compliance costs |
| Combined electricity and cooling | Need for dependable year-round use of recovered heat |
| Possible surplus-power sales | Interconnection, market, regulatory, and operating requirements |
| Large-scale power capacity | Greater emissions, permitting, construction, and community exposure |
| Utility independence | Continuing requirements for water, fuel, fiber, roads, and other site infrastructure |
For owners and developers, the lesson is that “off-grid” should be treated as an architecture and resilience strategy—not as a shortcut around infrastructure planning. A feasibility review must consider electrical load, thermal load, fuel diversity, water use, emissions controls, islanding controls, backup capacity, permitting, and the host site’s institutional or community objectives.
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Ending the lease did not end the University of Delaware’s broader STAR Campus redevelopment. UD continued to describe STAR as a long-term research, innovation, and technology campus on the former Chrysler property. The canceled TDC proposal should not be confused with later or current data-center developments in Delaware; those are separate projects requiring independent verification.
Why this 2013 proposal still matters
The TDC plan anticipated issues that remain important in data-center development: constrained utility capacity, demand for resilient power, behind-the-meter generation, microgrids, fuel security, cooling integration, emissions, and community acceptance.
But its historical significance should not be mistaken for proof of commercial success. The project demonstrated the difficulty of combining a very large fossil-fuel power plant with a university campus whose mission and sustainability goals pointed in another direction.
The final status
The Newark project was a 2013 proposal for a large data center with its own behind-the-meter cogeneration system. It was never built. The University of Delaware terminated TDC’s lease on July 10, 2014, after concluding that the proposed 279-MW fossil-fuel plant, its environmental implications, uncertain heat utilization, and overall scale did not fit the STAR Campus.
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