Small data center at the former Ocean Beauty cannery
Also called: Ocean Beauty Waterfront Data Center, Greensparc Petersburg
A local property owner and the company Greensparc want to put a small data center, about the size of a small shop, at the old Ocean Beauty cannery. It would use up to 2 megawatts of mostly hydro power. The town utility says it could help keep power rates down; some residents are skeptical.
Where things stand: Presented to the Borough Assembly in April 2026. Nothing signed yet and no building permit filed (as of spring 2026).
🕒 Latest update (April 28, 2026): The borough power utility published a FAQ: no building permit yet; a 1,500 to 2,000 square foot building expected.
What we know
- 📍 WhereFormer Ocean Beauty Seafoods cannery and pier on the downtown Petersburg waterfront, by Poor Mans Float, Petersburg Borough, Petersburg Borough
- 🏢 CompanyMazzella Alaska LLC
- 👤 Built forGreensparc (planned tenant)
- ⚡ Power it needs2 megawatts (about as much as 1,600 homes)
- 🔌 Where the power comes fromPetersburg Municipal Power and Light (mostly hydropower bought from the Southeast Alaska Power Agency) through an existing 2-megawatt transformer
- 🗼 New power linesNo
- ❄️ CoolingClosed-loop system filled once; outside radiator only on warm days (about 60 dB at the property edge, per the utility)
❓ Still unanswered
Nobody has answered these in public yet. Can you help find out?
- Has a power contract or building permit been signed or filed since spring 2026? 🙋 I'll find out
- Who would pay for diesel backup power if hydro runs short? 🙋 I'll find out
🔎 What we checked
- Oct 8, 2026: We checked OpenStreetMap: the former Ocean Beauty Seafoods cannery building is mapped on the downtown waterfront. The pin is placed on that building.
What happened so far
- April 20, 2026Greensparc and the property owner presented the plan to the Petersburg Borough Assembly.
- April 28, 2026The borough power utility published a FAQ: no building permit yet; a 1,500 to 2,000 square foot building expected.
Local votes and rules
⏸️ Pause on new data centers
The Assembly took up a new, narrower plan: a 9-month pause on permits for data centers that are too big for the local power grid or do not use closed-loop cooling, and a borough-wide rule against data centers making their own power on site. A second item asked staff to write data center zoning rules. The result was not yet reported.
⏸️ Pause on new data centers
A one-year pause on data center applications and permits, asked for by the planning commission, failed on a 3-3 tie. The pause would have given the borough time to write data center rules. Petersburg's code has no data center rules yet.
Drag the slider to compare the land before and now.
Where this comes from
- Private developer plans small-scale data center project on Petersburg waterfront · KFSK · May 1, 2026
- Small-scale data center proposed at former Ocean Beauty cannery · Petersburg Pilot · April 30, 2026
- Data center FAQ · Petersburg Municipal Power and Light (via KFSK) · April 28, 2026
- Ocean Beauty Seafood (building) · OpenStreetMap · Oct 8, 2026
See something wrong? Tell us and we'll fix it.