Nautilus Data Technologies is developing a $300 million, 60-megawatt data center facility in a qualified opportunity zone in Millinocket, Maine.

The 13-acre facility is expected to be one of the greenest facilities in the world, using 70 percent less power than a traditional data center through water-cooling systems and 100 percent hydroelectric power. The site will provide a more than 30 percent net reduction in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions and air pollution.

Millinocket is the former home of the Great Northern Paper Co., which was the world’s largest newsprint producer at its peak. Nautilus will be the first tenant on the site of the former mill since it closed in 2008.

Nautilus said the Millinocket Data Center will consume zero drinking water, use zero greenhouse-gas refrigerants or chemicals, produce zero wastewater, make no noise, and cause no harm to fish or wildlife.

“Nautilus Data Technologies is setting new data center industry green power efficiency benchmarks for reducing data center environmental impact that are key considerations in today’s ESG investment climate,” said Al Puchala, CEO of CapZone Impact Investments, the opportunity zone finance partner for the project. “The Millinocket data center will repurpose the infrastructure of a closed paper mill to provide businesses in the Northeast with an unrivalled high-performance data center for mission-critical applications.”

Taking advantage of two fiber routes of Maine’s so-called Three Ring Binder fiber-optic network, Nautilus will offer customers low-latency connections to major commercial and digital hubs including New York, Chicago, Ireland and London.

The first phase of the project is expected to be commissioned and operating by late 2022.

Kali Persall is a reporter at Institutional Real Estate, Inc. and editor of iREOC Connect.