Seven questions answered about Project River data center planned near Chattanooga

Project River, an ambitious $11.3 billion industrial campus featuring power plants and a data center, has been announced for Bradley County, Tennessee, near Chattanooga. The development, led by the locally based Wright family of Wright Brothers Construction, is pitching itself as a unique data center project, directly addressing common community concerns regarding electricity, water, and noise through a dedicated website and public statements.

The developers plan for the entire 1,500 megawatts of power, consisting of a 500-megawatt woody biomass plant designed by North Carolina-based Azure Energy and a 1,000-megawatt natural gas plant, to be used by on-site customers, potentially a data center. They will also request 360 megawatts from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for backup and peaking power. A key feature is the plan to use zero municipal water for regular operations, instead producing excess water from the biomass plant.

The 850-acre project site, owned by the Wright family, is located in northern Bradley County on the south bank of the Hiwassee River. It has applied for rezoning and incorporation into the city of Cleveland, which requires final approval from the Cleveland City Council. Project River developers estimate the construction period will create 3,500 jobs at its peak and support 900 on-site jobs once operational, including 525 at the data center, plus an additional 1,700 off-site jobs in logging and forestry. Public meetings are scheduled for September to engage the community.