By Emma Renly
For Columbia Gorge News
KLICKITAT CO. — Along the Columbia River, about eight miles southeast of Goldendale, all that’s left of a former aluminum reduction plant is its foundation and contaminated soil. The site has sat empty since 2003, when the company Golden Northwest Aluminum, Inc. filed for bankruptcy.
Two years later, under the bankruptcy reorganization plan, all assets and liabilities were transferred to NSC Smelter, LLC. Speculation has surrounded the industrial park site, particularly over future development and the proposed Goldendale Energy Storage Project — a pumped storage facility that is expected to generate 1,200 megawatts (MW) of electricity and has garnered significant opposition from the Yakama Nation.
A source directly involved with the project, who would only speak to Columbia Gorge News on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that there is a contract between NSC Smelter and Blue Owl Capital to build a hyperscale data center there.
Previously, IPI Partners was the leading developer until Blue Owl bought the company in early 2025, along with STACK Infrastructure, for $1 billion. IPI and STACK’s names are listed in a 2022 line load connection request for a data center between the Klickitat Public Utility District (KPUD) and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) for 958 MW.
The data center would be located next to the pumped storage project’s lower reservoir and act as a neighbor. The source stated there is “no commercial relationship” between the two projects or with additional nuclear energy in the works outside of Tri-Cities at the Handford site.
In fact, no power source is clearly lined up for the data center, but due to Washington’s Clean Energy Transformation Act, developers will have to look at generation sources that fall under carbon-free categorization, such as nuclear, solar and wind.
Once energy generation is secured, many parties will likely be interested in the spot. Already, the location is centrally located between data center hubs owned by the largest names in big tech, including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. The dry climate and grandfathered water rights from Klickitat Public Utility District — 5.08 billion gallons mostly from the Columbia River, to be shared with the pumped storage project — add to the appeal. The data center would also use air-cooled systems.
The source confirmed that no new power lines are being created at the project site as of now, and upgrades to hold additional voltage and a possible substation will be paid for by the developers, not customers of the Bonneville Power Administration’s wholesale markets.
Construction of the data center is estimated to begin around 2028 to 2029 with small building increments, rather than immediately scaling to 1 gigawatt (1,000 MW). The start date is also interlocked with remedial action needed because of environmental contamination beneath the former aluminum plant.
Rye Development of the Goldendale Energy Storage Project is currently awaiting a prospective purchaser consent decree from Washington’s Department of Ecology. If approved, Rye would then start the cleanup in tandem with NSC Smelter and Lockheed Martin, who remains the responsible party after operating the plant from 1971-1984.
At this point, both companies are in their twelfth year of an agreed order with the Department of Ecology and are waiting to receive back the corrective action plan draft. The site is also located within a treaty-protected fishing area for the Yakama Nation; the Department of Ecology stated they are working on a Tribal Engagement Plan for the site’s cleanup.
Remedial action is anticipated to start in the middle of next year, beginning with moving contaminated soil beneath the pumped storage project’s lower reservoir.
•••
Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe at columbiagorgenews.com.
Commented