Groups Say Georgia Data Center’s 90 MW ‘Pop-Up’ Gas Plant Skipped Air Permits
- Data Centers Grid Connection & Reliability News
Marin Holt
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- 5 minutes read
- Plant capacity: 90 MW
- Gas engines built: 8 of 33 proposed
- Data center generators built: 36 of 37 diesel units
- Proximity: within 3 miles of homes and a reservoir
Three environmental groups on July 1, 2026 asked Georgia regulators to stop construction of a 90 MW natural gas plant that Houston-based VoltaGrid is building in Covington, east of Atlanta, to power an adjacent Serverfarm data center. In a complaint to the state Environmental Protection Division, Sustainable Newton, the Altamaha Riverkeeper and the Southern Environmental Law Center say VoltaGrid has already erected 8 of 33 proposed methane gas-fired engines, and Serverfarm has built 36 of 37 diesel backup generators, before either secured the preconstruction air permits Georgia law requires. Both sites sit within 3 miles of homes, a county drinking-water reservoir and a nature preserve.
What Was Alleged
Under Georgia’s State Implementation Plan, a new source of air pollution needs a preconstruction permit before building starts. The groups say construction ran ahead of that review: a neighbor photographed engine assembly on June 19, and aerial photos on June 25 showed additional units going in, while the EPD had not issued final permits as of early July. The complaint asks the state to order both companies to halt work and to assess penalties. VoltaGrid would supply dedicated round-the-clock baseload power to the data center, bypassing Georgia Power, an arrangement that would make it the state’s first data-center “pop-up” plant of its kind.
Why It Matters
Behind-the-meter gas is becoming the fast lane for data centers that will not wait on utility interconnection queues, and Covington is a test of what that speed costs in oversight. A 90 MW plant running continuously is a merchant power station in all but name, yet it is being assembled to serve a single customer outside the utility’s planning and rate process. The permitting fight sets an early marker for how states handle self-supplied data-center load: whether “pop-up” generation clears the same air-quality review as any other power plant, or whether the schedule pressure of an AI build-out is allowed to outrun it.
Sources
Critical Perspective
These are allegations in a complaint, and neither VoltaGrid nor Serverfarm has been found to have violated the permit rule; the EPD has not ruled. The companies could hold minor-source or exemption arguments that the filing does not address. Still, the physical facts, 8 engines and 36 diesel generators already standing before final permits, are hard to walk back if the state agrees review should have come first. “EPD can and should exercise its authority so companies cannot skirt regulatory review by treating the process like it’s arbitrary,” said Patrick Anderson of the Southern Environmental Law Center.
