In the critical mission sector, where market speed is paramount, the Crusoe Energy Abilene data center team in Abilene, Texas, is finding ways to accelerate delivery far beyond the established rules, while maintaining the standards of efficiency and reliability. Breaking Ground in the summer of 2024, the ambitious project will provide a campus at the Multibuilding Build-to-Suit Data Center. So far, the team, led by the construction of RDP and the main contractors Rosendin Electric and Southland Brandt, has shown that each building of a single floor of 474,000 square meters in less than a year can be delivered. From early results and strong demand, the client, Crusoe Energy Systems, challenged the team six months to the project to expand the campus from two buildings to eight at the same blister pace. The entire campus is on a good way to energize in mid-2016.
John Arcello, CORE Tech Advanced Tech and Project Leader Market at DPR, says that the commitment to collaboration from the outset was the key to achieving the aggressive calendar of the project. “We had about 25 people flying at the Crusoe office in San Francisco and we started to chop the design, the project calendar, the approach and how we will work together,” he recalls.
Each building houses four 106,000 square meters data rooms connected by a central service room. Each room takes the team for about 10 months from the beginning to the invigorator, with the crews that work simultaneously in several rooms.
Image courtesy of DPR Construction
“We started that day in March 2024; we had architects, engineers, electrical contractors, mechanical contractors, structural engineers in the room,” says Arcello. “We said,” We have to do this. We have to do it fast. It is not a matter of giving people to come from others for areas of work and contracts. Who is good at what? Go. “”
Arcello says the RDP “works as a CM/GC”, programming, security and logistics. The DPR sought to maximize automatic work in the project, including concrete, dry wall, doors, frames, hardware, low voltage tips and electric. He also incorporated a GPA engineering subsidiary for components of the digital building of the engineering and prefabrication partner. The main contractors Rosendin Electric and Southland Brandt give their fields through design design. Although separate contracts, companies work under a collaboration agreement.
Thomas Stemmerman, General Superintendent of Rosendin, says that the commitment to collaboration made the difference. In particular, he says the owner allowed design and construction members an unusual amount of independence.
“ They told us, “ ignore the way all other data centers have been done and are treated as the professionals you are, ” he recalls. “ How did you want to do this installation and how you can do -go faster? How could you do -the most efficient? How could you do -the safest thing for the facilities? ” This is what happened to us. “”
GPLA designed exterior metal panels that were prefabricated by the autonomous crews of RDP. In each of the first two buildings, 672 unclean panels were installed. The field installation had an average of 15 to 20 panels a day. Each building was closed in less than eight weeks.
Photos courtesy of DPR CONSTRUCTION
Speed through repetition
The repetitive design requested that each building include four data rooms of 106,000 square meters connected by a central service. Each room is capable of accommodating 500 racks and up to 25mW of computer load, which totalizes 100 MW combined per building. Arcello says that each room takes about 10 months from the beginning to the invigorator, with the crews that work simultaneously in several rooms.
The six additional buildings, designed for a total of 1.2 Gigawatts, obtain the construction of March 2025 and is estimated to be completed in mid -2016. Each building is designed to operate up to 50,000 NVIDIA GB200 NVL72S in a single integrated network fabric.
Among the first considerations, the team acknowledged the need to include structural steel buildings as quickly as possible. GPLA was commissioned to deliver initial structural designs for two -week steel factories and complete structural and manufacturing models completely detailed in less than six weeks. The strategy allowed the manufactured steel to reach the site for the first three months. Arcello says that the team met this calendar through a “grouping team” methodology, where specialized groups focused on primary structures, secondary and quality support and control systems, working simultaneously. The approach minimized the re -elaboration and rationalized processes, according to him. To help accelerate the installation, Arcello says that the RP developed a prefabricated anchor screw staff system.
“We were told,” ignore the way all other data centers have been done and are treated as the professionals you are. “”
– Thomas Semmerman, General Superintendent, Rosendin Electric
In order to include the buildings as quickly as possible, the metal equipment designed GPLA that were prefabricated by the autonomous crews of RDP. In each of the first two buildings, 672 imposed panels were installed for components of the digital building. It was the first use of the DPR type of panel.
To facilitate the installation, the design team created only four types of unique panels to do the most repeatable work. The manufacture of the panel was completed in less than 40 days with a field installation of 15 to 20 panels a day. Each building was closed in less than eight weeks, allowing quick turnover and early turnover to the interior shops.
One of the main concerns was power. Although there was a 200 MW substation in the area, it would not be enough to properly supply the project, especially with expansion. To meet the demand, a 340 MW natural gas turbines were added to the reach.
“Crusoe has a lot of oil and gas history so they didn’t blink [and]It is offered to build a natural gas power plant at the site, “says Arcello.” We were designing and acquiring natural gas turbines for work later. “
The repetitive design was critical, not only from room to room, but also inside each room. Prefabrication construction components maximized with DPR, as well as multitrade skates and racks. “The idea is that when you enter a data room, if you do 20 steps, you have seen the whole data room,” says Arcello.
Semmerman says that Rosendin has modulated everything he can possibly. “This goes to our underground racks,” he says. “I have two underground racks styles for all our underground work [enables] Easy installation. “”
After six months, the scope of the project was expanded from two buildings to eight.
Photo courtesy of DPR CONSTRUCTION
Keep —
Semmerman says it was also important not to overcome design and installation. “Many times in data centers, they want two or three circuits for conduit,” he says. “They want a certain amount of spare parts and things like that, [which] At the end of the day you don’t get used to. We designed the possibility of making changes later if we needed, but we did not overcome it. We went to find what the code was needed, what was the standards of the industry and we moved forward. “”
In addition to the weights of electrical requirements, data centers also have a high demand for water. Matt Tieken, a senior project manager of Southland Brandt, says the team designed a high -flow inverse osmosis system that projected will be able to cut off water use in washing in 75%of refrigerated water pipes. “This will be a huge advantage, not only for Crusoe, but also for the city of Abilene, so they should not supply this water.”
Throughout the project, the high levels of collaboration and coordination have led to a significant savings of programs, according to Semmerman. “We started to find out quickly that we could take our level of coordination much higher than we do normally when we all have property in the project,” he says, “at one point, we needed to change some teams and, when we did not do, it was not only Rosendin involved; it was the boys of steel, it was Brandt, it was DPR. I had 84 individuals from the office that made some of the changes to make things up for 154 days. We minimized up to 28 days as a group. “
Man up
One of the most puzzling considerations was the labor force, both in the countryside and at the level of supervision. At the end of July, the team reported 2,785 crew to the site. From May, Total Man-Hores worked in the first two buildings was approximately 2.75 million. DPR manages 60 subcontractors with another 30 subcontractors under the other main partners. The maximum labor is expected to reach almost 5,000 as a result of the expansion.
“We take all our lessons learned from this first construction; we take the same team and improve [the process]. “”
– John Arcello, Core Tech Advanced Tech, DPR Construction market leader
Semmerman says Rosendin has not yet struggled to fill his crews. Shooting California workers in Maine, the company has more than 1,200 employees on the site and could expand up to 1,600. The company has pledged 180 supervisors to the project. “The job is good, the customer supports us and security is number one,” he adds. “There is a great morality at work and they feel that they are respected. This is really to bring people.”
Tieken says he hopes that Southland Brandt’s labor will exceed 900 with 200 field supervisors.
Reben Cheatham, the leadership of the DPR pre -construction in the project, says that a labor engine is the need to have several crews that “salt” the project.
“We have gone from less a standard crew flow to a hops jump,” he says. “So when the crew turns on [data hall] It is done, it happens to [data hall] C. Then crew B passes to D. ”
Again for more
With the work in the first phase almost complete, the team continues in the second phase. Although adding the expansion was an important company, Arcello says it was ultimately for the best, as the team could keep the same employees and crews throughout the work.
“We take all our lessons learned from this first construction; we take the same team and improve [the process]”He says.
With the objective project for the delivery of mid -2016, the aggressive scope and calendar of the project, which some admitted seemed crazy at first, now it seems possible.
“Our Abilene Ai data center is a testament to what is possible when speed meets the precision in construction,” said Chris Dollan, head of the Crusoe Data Center, in a statement. “We challenged ourselves with incredibly ambitious calendars for this critical data center campus, and DPR construction turned out to be an indispensable partner at each step of the way. They adopted our demanding calendar without ever sacrificing the meticulous quality and rigorous engineering.
