At a glance
- The notice covers two applications: one seeks a site location permit for building reuse and the other an air license for two 3.25MW diesel standby generators.
- Underwriting the Jay site means pricing an approvals path that includes a county moratorium until May 2027 and a state regime still being drafted.
- Sentinel was initially reported to be developing 1 million sq ft (92,905 sqm) of colocation space at the site, and local officials had backed the project, with work set to start this summer.
JGT2 Redevelopment filed public notice on Nov. 8 that it intends to seek Maine environmental permits for a data center at the former Androscoggin paper mill in Jay. The filing revives a project whose original development partner, Sentinel Data Centers, left in June.
The notice covers two applications: one seeks a site location permit for building reuse and the other an air license for two 3.25MW diesel standby generators. The site permit would allow reuse of existing mill buildings for computing equipment, redevelopment of parking lot and rail yard areas for HVAC equipment, and construction of a subsurface wastewater system.
Underwriting the Jay site means pricing an approvals path that includes a county moratorium until May 2027 and a state regime still being drafted. Androscoggin County, which the mill site borders, has a moratorium on data centers of 10,000 sq ft (930 sqm) or 20MW or more running until May 2027.
Sentinel was initially reported to be developing 1 million sq ft (92,905 sqm) of colocation space at the site, and local officials had backed the project, with work set to start this summer. Whether Sentinel is part of the renewed effort was not confirmed.
In April, Governor Janet Mills vetoed a bill that would have enacted a statewide moratorium on data centers. After the midterms, Hannah Pingree will replace Mills as governor in January 2027, and several anti-data-center candidates won. Pingree told local press Jay should not become a “testing ground” for data centers before Maine has proper data center regulations.
“Jay deserves good jobs and investment at the mill site, but not at the cost of ratepayers, neighbors or the environment,” she said.
Maine saw measures restricting data center development in five counties, including the Androscoggin County moratorium: as this publication reported in September, Texas froze data center permits tied to an ownership audit, with 49.8GW of projects waiting on a December deadline.
JGT2 bought the property in December 2023 and has demolished several buildings there. The Jay select board took an update on the redevelopment at a workshop and meeting on Nov. 9, according to Data Center Dynamics.
Jay deserves good jobs and investment at the mill site, but not at the cost of ratepayers, neighbors or the environmentHannah Pingree, who becomes Maine's governor in January 2027
Reported by the Data centers & fiber desk from Data Center Dynamics. Published . Corrections