ReNew Riverside Micro Cloud Technology Center (234 Riverside Avenue)

Timeline from the record

Newest first. Record entries come from the filings and reports the registry cites. Coverage entries are headlines from publisher feeds we monitor daily, linked to the outlet; last checked September 14, 2026.

1. April 2026

   Proposed
   Bristol Inland Wetlands commission approved the wetlands application with stipulations; the data-center building still needs local site-plan and building approvals Source: The Bristol Edition

Opposition and litigation at this site

Yes. ReNew Riverside Micro Cloud Technology Center (234 Riverside Avenue) in Bristol, Hartford County, Connecticut is contested. Hearings, public comment, petitions, or organized opposition are on record, and no lawsuit has been filed so far. The Bristol Edition reports residents only learned of the 2022-era project recently, and the City Council and mayor pushed the Zoning Commission to roll back the data-center rules the project relies on

How the community has taken it

Reception is a sourced signal, not an editorial judgment: contested means active public debate is on record, with hearings, petitions, or organized opposition, without litigation.

The Bristol Edition reports residents only learned of the 2022-era project recently, and the City Council and mayor pushed the Zoning Commission to roll back the data-center rules the project relies on

Source: The Bristol Edition

Power and water

Siting Council staff report: 13 Bloom Energy ES-5 solid-oxide fuel cells running on natural gas, in parallel with the grid, supplying about 99% of the data center's base load; the Eversource interconnection is for backup

City and mayor describe closed-loop liquid cooling with no withdrawal from or discharge to the Pequabuck River; the mayor estimated annual water use at about 30% of a local grocery store's

Notes on the record

Small edge/'micro cloud' data center on a 1.62-acre remediated brownfield (former Dodge Village dealership) beside the Pequabuck River. Building size varies across sources: the city says ~15,000 sq ft, the Siting Council staff report is referenced in press as ~15,000 gross sq ft over two stories, and The Bristol Edition reported 27,000 sq ft (April 2026) and 14,000 sq ft (August 2026); no single figure is recorded. The Siting Council's Petition 1540 approval (2022-12-08, construction extension 2025-09-19) covers only the fuel-cell plant; the data-center building still needs Bristol land-use and building approvals. In August 2026 the Zoning Commission took up an amendment to drop the 5,001 to 250,000 sq ft data-center category and require special permits, and the mayor urged limiting data centers over 15,000 sq ft; together these could block the project at its current size. The 4 MW is the on-site fuel-cell rating, not IT load, so capacityMw is omitted.

Other sites within 30 miles

Distances are between recorded coordinates, many of which are a city or county centroid, so treat them as approximate. Cumulative load on one utility and one aquifer is the question a planning commission rarely asks.

• Energy & Innovation Park Data Center (480 Myrtle Street) · New Britain · EIP Investment7 mi · Proposed · 44 MW
• TierPoint Waterbury · Waterbury · TierPoint10 mi · Operating
• Beacon Falls Data Center Campus (1 Lopus Road) · Beacon Falls · O&G Industries17 mi · Proposed · 100 MW · Contested
• Cigna Windsor Data Center (9 Griffin Road North) · Windsor · Cigna18 mi · Operating
• Atlas Capital Group Data Center (132 Griffin Road North) · Bloomfield · Atlas Capital Group18 mi · Proposed

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