NCAR and University of Wyoming officials announced this morning that design and engineering concepts for the computing center near Cheyenne are now 65 percent complete – a level that triggers a design review process within NCAR’s sponsor, the National Science Foundation (NSF).
“We are pleased with both the design and what it signifies in terms of progress for this project,” NCAR Director Eric Barron said in a news release. “It gives us a real sense of what the facility will look like and substance for the (NSF) review process.”
Pending NSF approval, NCAR’s design contractors – H+L Architecture of Denver and the California Data Center Design Group -- can complete the design and NCAR can move ahead toward a construction start next spring for the estimated $500+ million project. Depending on NSF, the center could begin operations in late 2011.
The NCAR Wyoming Super Computing Center is a partnership between NCAR, the University of Wyoming, the state of Wyoming, Cheyenne LEADS, the Wyoming Business Council and Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power.
It will be located in the Cheyenne LEADS North Range Business Park just west of Cheyenne and will house a series of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. Projected construction cost for the center itself is around $60 million, and the cost of the computers puts the initial total project cost estimates at $530 million over a 20-year period.
NCAR’s Al Kelly said the final project cost, and the amount of NSF funding, will depend on bonding costs for the project.
The computing center will be dedicated to helping scientists from around the world better their understanding of climate, weather and other earth and atmospheric processes, including climate change, severe weather and air quality.
Cheyenne Mayor Rick Kaysen said the supercomputing center will help bring job diversity to Cheyenne and Wyoming
“This project is going to put Cheyenne on the map in a way we’ve never seen before,” Kaysen said. “We go beyond the city of Cheyenne’s borders; we go beyond Wyoming’s borders. This has an international flavor, so its significance is extremely important for our community and our state.”
UW Provost Myron Allen said the partnership with NCAR already “has changed the way science is done at the university.”
For more information, go to www.cisl.ucar.edu/nwsc.
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