EASTPORT — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has found deficiencies in a preliminary permit application for a controversial underwater artificial intelligence data center in the Bay of Fundy’s Western Passage, north of Kendall Head.
In a July 15 letter, FERC requested more information from DeepGreen after finding four deficiencies in its preliminary permit application.
DeepGreen Western Passage SPV LLC applied for a 48-month preliminary permit in February to conduct the engineering and environmental studies required to secure funding and launch development.
As local opposition mounts, Louis Wolfson, developer and managing partner of DeepGreen, told Monitor Local earlier this month that the permit gives the company “a right to study, not a license to construct.”
Wolfson has faced public pushback since the project’s inception. Some Eastport residents have called him a “one-percenter” and criticized his decision not to build data centers in large bodies of water in his native Massachusetts, such as Cape Cod.
In June, the Eastport Coalition for Healthy Oceans, representing local residents who oppose the project, submitted two petitions to the City Council to block the data center.
One petition calls for a permanent municipal ban on data centers to halt the DeepGreen project, while the other gives voters final approval over large construction projects.
The City Council scheduled back-to-back hearings on the ordinances for Aug. 5 to determine which, if any, will make the November ballot.
In the July 15 deficiency letter, Emily Carter, chief of FERC’s New England branch in the Division of Hydropower Licensing, gave DeepGreen 45 days to respond. She noted that regulators may request additional information after DeepGreen files its response and warned that FERC could reject the application if the company fails to provide the requested data.
Carter outlined four main deficiencies:
- Failure to identify all tribes affected by the project.
- Failure to specify all physical dimensions and configurations required by statute.
- Inclusion of maps extending beyond the required physical project dimensions.
- Lack of a detailed technical explanation for requesting a 400-acre “operational envelope” when the active infrastructure footprint is significantly smaller.
If DeepGreen intends to operate within the requested 400 acres, Carter said FERC requires a technical explanation detailing why the project needs an operational envelope larger than its active infrastructure.
Specifically, FERC asked why the project’s construction and operation require a wake recovery area, thermal dilution zone and maintenance access covering 400 acres.
The agency also requested that DeepGreen update Exhibit 1 in its application to include the dimensions and composition of the universal docking cradle, subsea-compute pods and tidal sensing platform.
Additionally, regulators asked for a clear description of whether a cable referenced in the design connects to Eastport’s microgrid or another power source.
Regulators found a similar deficiency in DeepGreen’s FERC application for an artificial intelligence data center in Cook Inlet, Alaska, which uses the same technology. Earlier this month, Eastport City Manager Brian Schuth sent a letter to FERC suggesting that DeepGreen’s Eastport docket may contain similar defects.
In the deficiency letter, Carter noted that the application identifies “approximately 170 marine hydrokinetic turbines to be mounted on a modular universal docking cradle.” She asked DeepGreen to provide the specific number of proposed generators along with the power ratings for each turbine and generator unit.
In its application, DeepGreen describes the project as an “infrastructure layer expansion” using “open architecture” to connect to third-party equipment. This includes tidal turbines developed by Ocean Renewable Power Co., which holds a preliminary permit for the same site, according to DeepGreen.
Carter noted that the permit application identifies the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik without providing a mailing address. She added that the filing fails to include other tribes that FERC identified as needing notification, including the Penobscot Indian Nation, Mi’kmaq Nation, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Passamaquoddy Tribe of Indian Township and Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point.
In a statement previously shared with Monitor Local, Passamaquoddy Tribal Chief Amkuwiposohehs “Pos” Bassett referenced a letter sent by the tribe’s lawyer to Wolfson.
“Despite DeepGreen’s public characterizations about collaborating with the Tribe on your proposed project, the Tribe is not interested in partnering with DeepGreen on the Western Passage Project through the Memorandum of Understanding, Community Benefits Agreement, or otherwise,” Bassett wrote.
FERC also questioned the “400-acre operational envelope” listed for infrastructure with a footprint of just 27 acres. The agency asked DeepGreen to submit updated maps showing only the functional, operational boundaries required to execute the design.
According to Carter’s letter, the proposed boundary fails to fully enclose one of two depicted cable landings at Johnson Cove, south of Kendall Head. She also noted that the boundary appears to encompass onshore land containing no proposed project features.
Carter directed DeepGreen to revise its map so the boundary encloses all proposed features completely while excluding any land or water not needed for operations.
If DeepGreen keeps the 400-acre envelope in its application, Carter said the company must provide technical reasoning and supporting reference materials for a project of that scale.
In July, DeepGreen amended its proposal to dramatically cut the project’s energy consumption, scaling back Phase I from 15 megawatts to 1 to 5 megawatts, The Quoddy Tides reported. The company also reduced Phase II from 51 megawatts to a maximum of 15 megawatts.
The updated filing states the purpose of the downsizing is to “ensure that any future data-gathering, modeling or potential deployment under a preliminary permit remains low-profile, highly localized and designed strictly to serve regional community frameworks.”
