State OKs SDI data center land use permit

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

A land use permit has been approved for installation of a temporary data center module at the Satellite Drilling Island in the Duck Island unit on the North Slope.

TA Infrastructure Management LLC of Austin, Texas, applied Nov. 5 to install a 10-foot by 40-foot data center module on a trial basis at the Satellite Drilling Island. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas said in its Dec. 19 permit approval that the center would contain 1.4 megawatts of bitcoin mining computers and consumer power from existing Hilcorp Alaska-owned power generation equipment.

"The purpose of this project is to demonstrate the ability to operate data center infrastructure on the North Slope and identify any logistical or operational challenges that a larger project might have," the division said.

The test is planned for a 4-year period, but the division said a fifth year may be used for testing if necessary. The module will be installed on the southeastern corner of the Satellite Drilling Island.

--Petroleum News