Proposed $4 Billion White Cloud Acres AI Data Center in Rural Barnard

Posted on April 29, 2026 by roger

A proposal by Scale Microgrids to open the White Cloud Acres $4 billion AI data center that is expected to use 600 megawatts of electricity from what sounds to be another natural gas generating station, and would be across Highway 71 east of the 440 megawatt Mullin Creek plant that is scheduled to be built by 2029-2030.  Additional generating plants have been proposed for Mullin Creek.  The data center and the Mullin plant are in the South Nodaway R4 School District, which would get the majority of the taxes paid for them.  Nodaway County lacks zoning and thus has limited power over the operation.  The plant is expected to use 200,000 gallons a day and could have constant noise at the level of a vacuum cleaner.

The scale of this is massive, and at this writing, it would appear to be the first such plant north of the Kansas City metro area.  Here is some background

*https://whitecloudacres.com/  Official site for information about the plant – the information is not complete at this moment 4/29/2026

https://www.scalemicrogrids.com/data-centers Scale Microgrids Information of Data  Center – Again, the information at this moment is not complete. 4/29/2026

https://www.datacentermap.com/usa/missouri/ Map of Proposed Data Centers in Missouri. Nodaway is not listed at this writing.  The numbers are misleading in the map as it sometimes has multiple listings for the same location.

South Nodaway R4 District Map (article noted the location would be around 35045 Jet Road)

KQ2 Story About Nodaway Plant

Maryville Forum Article on Hearing (article notes Maryville wastewater which goes into 102 might be diverted to be used for plant)

AI-Generated Summaries on Center

History of Scale Microgrids

Founded in 2016 in Ridgewood, NJ, by Howard Goodman, Ryan Goodman, and Tim Hade, Scale Microgrids is a leading vertically integrated company developing, building, and operating distributed energy systems. Initially focused on behind-the-meter assets, the company was backed by Warburg Pincus in 2020 before being acquired by EQT Transition Infrastructure in January 2025. 

Key Historical Developments

  • Foundation (2016): Established by former Energy Route OX executives focusing on transforming energy infrastructure with cleaner, resilient, and, often, fully financed microgrid solutions.
  • Expansion & Investment (2020): Secured an equity commitment of up to 
     million from private equity firm Warburg Pincus to accelerate project development and scale their “Microgrids-as-a-Service” model.
  • Strategic Growth & Acquisitions (2021-2024): Focused on behind-the-meter projects under 20 MW, including solar, battery storage, and CHP. The portfolio grew significantly, including the acquisition of 500 MW of community solar and storage projects.
  • Data Center Focus & Fuel Cells (2024-2025): Actively pivoted towards supporting the AI data center boom with fast-deployed microgrids and launched a major fuel cell strategy for baseload power, exceeding  billion in project financing.
  • Acquisition by EQT (2025): In January 2025, EQT announced the acquisition of Scale Microgrids to support the energy transition, aiming to build on a portfolio of roughly MW of operating/in-construction assets and a GW pipeline.

Scale is recognized for its work in making on-site energy systems more accessible, particularly through no upfront CapEx models for clients in the C&I, data center, and municipal sectors.

Light Pollution

Data centers generate light pollution. Hyperscale facilities require all-night lighting, which disrupts the body’s natural (circadian) rhythms, including melatonin production (the hormone that regulates sleep) and sleep-wake cycles.

 

Microgrid (from Wikipedia)

A microgrid is a local electrical grid with defined electrical boundaries, acting as a single and controllable entity.[1] It is able to operate in grid-connected and off-grid modes.[2][3] Microgrids may be linked as a cluster or operated as stand-alone or isolated microgrid which only operates off-the-grid not be connected to a wider electric power system.[4] Very small microgrids are sometimes called nanogrids when they serve a single building or load.[5][6]

A grid-connected microgrid normally operates connected to and synchronous with the traditional wide area synchronous grid (macrogrid), but is able to disconnect from the interconnected grid and to function autonomously in “island mode” as technical or economic conditions dictate.[7] In this way, they improve the security of supply within the microgrid cell, and can supply emergency power, changing between island and connected modes.[7] This kind of grid is called an islandable microgrid.

Noise of Center

AI data centers are noisy, producing a constant, high-pitched hum or low-frequency roar from intensive cooling systems, servers, and backup generators. They often exceed   (louder than a vacuum cleaner), causing significant noise pollution in surrounding communities, with some residents hearing it for miles.

 

Key Aspects of Data Center Noise:

    • Constant Humming: The noise is persistent, running 24/7, which distinguishes it from temporary noises like traffic.
    • Common Causes: The primary noise comes from HVAC systems, cooling towers (fans), and backup power generators.
    • Internal Noise:
       Inside, noise levels can reach , necessitating ear protection.
  • External Impact: Low-frequency sounds from cooling equipment can travel far, with some reports noting noise, or a 65 dB level, at the property line.
  • Community Disruptions: Residents near new AI data centers have reported disruptive sounds akin to drones or helicopters, causing sleep disruption and stress.Why AI Data Centers Are Particularly Loud:
The high computing density required for artificial intelligence generates extreme heat, demanding, in turn, massive and constant cooling, which is often done with loud industrial fans and air-conditioning units. Some data centers are starting to explore quieter solutions, such as liquid cooling, but traditional, noisy air cooling is still common.
Data Center Knowledge
 

Some users in a Reddit forum 8 have noted that, while some units are noisy, others might find the noise levels negligible, depending on the distance from the data center, while others say that common air conditioning is louder, so some noise might be a, “placebo effect” for people concerned.

Water usage

A proposed $4 billion AI data center in Nodaway County, Missouri, has raised significant concerns among local residents and environmental advocates regarding its potential water consumption and impact on local resources

Proposed Water Usage Details
  • Initial Estimates: Early, unofficial estimates for the proposed site suggest a daily demand of a “couple hundred thousand gallons” per day.
  • Proposed Infrastructure: The project may involve building a 9-million-gallon reserve for a closed-loop system.
  • Proposed Source: Public Water Supply District No. 1 would be responsible for providing water, with potential sourcing from the City of Maryville, possibly using recycled wastewater.
  • Concerns: Locals worry about the impact on the water table and the sustainability of the supply.
     
Contextual Data Center Water Use
  • Regional Context: Large AI data centers typically consume 1 to 5 million gallons of water per day, comparable to a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
  • Impact: Data center water usage for cooling can exacerbate stress on local water supplies, particularly in communities where water is already scarce.
  • Transparency Issues: Community members have highlighted a lack of transparency from developers regarding the exact water and energy needs of these projects.
Local Reaction
  • Opposition: Community meetings have been held to discuss the potential for higher utility bills, environmental waste, and risks to farmland, according to reports from KQ2 News.
  • Environmental Concerns: Critics suggest that the project could threaten the water supply for surrounding residents and agricultural needs.
    KQ2 +2
Note: As of late April 2026, the project is in the planning and discussion phase, with community concerns leading to organized opposition, according to reports from Nodaway News Leader and KQ2 News.
 

Why Do AI Data Centers Require So Much Water

AI requires massive data centers because training and running large-scale models like ChatGPT requires intense computational power, which is provided by specialized, energy-hungry hardware. These facilities consume immense amounts of electricity for calculations and water for cooling to prevent overheating, often using millions of gallons daily.

 
Why AI Needs So Many Data Centers
  • Intense Computational Power: Training and running generative AI models requires thousands of specialized, high-performance Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) or Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) running constantly.
  • Exponential Growth in AI Use: The rapid proliferation of AI applications and users means a massive, growing infrastructure is necessary to support demand, doubling the number of data centers,.
  • Constant Data Handling: AI applications require continuous high-speed data storage and transfer.
    RCR Wireless News +1
Why AI Data Centers Use So Much Electricity
  • Power-Hungry Hardware: AI-optimized hardware (such as Nvidia’s latest chips) can consume two to four times as much energy as traditional server equipment.
  • Massive Training Loads: Training a single large language model (LLM) involves running thousands of GPUs for weeks or months.
  • Generative AI Intensity: Generative AI queries can consume 10–30 times more energy than traditional AI tasks or simple search queries.
     

Why AI Data Centers Use So Much Water

  • Cooling High-Density Heat: AI servers operate 24/7, generating immense heat. To maintain optimal performance, many centers use evaporation-based cooling systems.
  • Water Cooling Efficiency: Water has three times the heat capacity of air, making it superior for cooling high-intensity hardware, but it is a “thirsty” process.
  • Indirect Water Usage: Beyond direct cooling, vast amounts of water are consumed indirectly to generate the electricity required by the data centers.
  • High-Stress Regions: Many new centers are placed in hot, dry areas with cheap land, often putting immense strain on local water supplies, using up to 5 million gallons a day—comparable to thousands of households.

Reasons Plants are Placed in Rural Areas

Companies are placing AI data centers in rural areas primarily to access vast, affordable land, abundant energy, and to secure rapid, cheaper access to power grids, bypassing congested urban infrastructure. The surge in AI demands intensive, scalable, and location-agnostic computing, making rural locations with lower tax burdens and existing utility infrastructure, such as 230KV transmission lines, highly attractive. 

 
Key Reasons for Rural AI Data Center Expansion:
  • Abundant Land and Cheap Power: Rural areas offer large, affordable plots (e.g., 400+ acres) necessary for massive data center campuses, which are increasingly expensive and scarce near major urban centers.
  • Power Grid Access and Speed: Rural areas often feature industrial electrical infrastructure and high-voltage transmission lines that can be directly harnessed, enabling faster development than in urban areas with overloaded, slow-to-update grids.
  • Location-Agnostic Processing: The most compute-intensive part of AI (training foundational models) does not require low latency, making it ideal to build far from user centers.
  • Incentives and Taxes: Rural municipalities often provide generous tax incentives and economic development deals to attract high-tech investments.
  • Lower Operational Costs: Beyond cheap land, these regions provide lower operating expenses and high-capacity fiber networks often located near major energy infrastructure.

These developments also bring significant infrastructure investment, though they sometimes face local pushback over water, energy, and land use, as highlighted in reports on rural data center expansion, such as this study on local impacts.

Local Opposition to AI Plants Has Been Effective

Recent data shows that local opposition to AI-related data center projects has been highly effective, with tens of billions of dollars in proposed investments blocked or delayed in the U.S. over the past two years.

According to Data Center Watch, from May 2024 to March 2025, $64 billion in U.S. data center projects were blocked or delayed amid local activism (www.datacenterwatch.org). In the second quarter of 2025 alone, 20 projects were canceled or postponed, representing $98 billion in proposed investments The Verge. From late March to June 2025, $24.2 billion was blocked, and $73.7 billion was delayed, according to The Verge.

The opposition is bipartisan, with both Republicans and Democrats citing concerns such as:

  • Energy demand (AI data centers can use as much as 80–100 homes’ worth of power at peak load) The Verge.

  • Water usage (potentially equivalent to the indoor needs of 18.5 million households by 2028) The Verge.

  • Environmental impact (grid strain, pollution, aquifer depletion) Data Center Knowledge.

  • Zoning and infrastructure readiness www.datacenterwatch.org.

Advocacy groups have mobilized widely, with 142 organizations actively pushing back on data center construction Data Center Knowledge. In some states, even traditionally pro-business lawmakers have supported tighter regulations Data Center Knowledge.

Success rate context:
While exact percentages vary by region and project, the scale of the blockages suggests that a significant share of proposed AI data center projects — potentially over half in some cases — have been halted or delayed due to local opposition. The 2025–2026 data shows a sharp rise in both the number of projects and the amount blocked, indicating that opposition is not only effective but growing.

Bottom line:
Local activism has achieved a high success rate in halting or postponing AI data center projects, with tens of billions of dollars in proposed investments blocked or delayed in recent years, and bipartisan support making it harder for developers to move forward without addressing community concerns

Nicknames for the Data Center

  1. White Cloud Hub
  2. Cloud Acres Nexus
  3. Barnard Brainfarm
  4. White Cloud Neural Park
  5. The Cloudworks
  6. Prairie Data Hub
  7. White Cloud Matrix
  8. Barnard Cloud Campus
  9. The AI Acres
  10. Cloudforge Barnard
  11. White Cloud Grid
  12. Heartland Hypercloud
  13. Barnard Bytefields
  14. White Cloud Vault
  15. Midwest Mindfarm
  16. Cloudstead Campus
  17. The Data Pasture
  18. White Cloud Core
  19. Barnard AI Commons
  20. SkyFarm Data Center

Specific Jokes About Proposal

  1. White Cloud Acres: where Barnard finally gets a skyline — of cooling towers and server racks.

  2. Good news for South Nodaway School District: field trip destination upgraded from the corn maze to the motherboard maze.

  3. Locals worried about water use — don’t worry, the data center only drinks from artisanal, gluten-free aquifers.

  4. They say it’ll need 600 megawatts. Translation: Barnard might finally beat the neighbor’s Christmas lights contest — by powering Kansas City.

  5. Noise complaints expected — the servers promise to hum lullabies for every farmer’s tractor.

  6. Real estate pitch: buy now — you’ll be within walking distance of high-speed Wi‑Fi and industrial-grade mystery hum.

  7. Residents fear it’ll consume all the water. On the bright side, you’ll never run out of cloud storage or irrigation excuses.

  8. The plant’s slogan: “White Cloud Acres — bringing the future to Missouri, one overheated data rack at a time.”

  9. Town meeting agenda: 1) Discuss water. 2) Discuss noise. 3) Decide whether to sell earplugs branded with the company logo.

  10. If the servers get noisy, Barnard can monetize it: turn the hum into a new jazz festival — “Beats by Server.”

  11. County planner: “We were promised jobs, roads, and broadband.” Farmer: “I’m just waiting for the tractor-to-server hookup.”

  12. Optimist: “It’ll bring jobs.” Pessimist: “It’ll bring jobs… and a cloud that refuses to move when it rains.”

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