DataOne built 62 unpermitted generators at its Vineland AI campus — a record $1.07M fine

New Jersey DEP inspectors visited DataOne's Vineland data-centre campus in December 2025 and recorded no generators. When they returned on 29 July 2026, they counted 62 stationary reciprocating generators rated at 1,982 kilowatts each — roughly 120 megawatts of generating plant that had arrived and started running in seven months, without the preconstruction permit and operating certificate the state Air Pollution Control Act requires for any unit of 37 kilowatts or more.

On 22 September 2026 the DEP issued an administrative order and a $1.07 million civil penalty — by Commissioner Ed Potosnak's account the largest action the state has ever taken against a data centre. The order requires DataOne to obtain the permits or stop. DataOne said it disagreed with the 'temporary generator' determination but would apply for air permits; the campus is being built for AI cloud firm Nebius, with the capacity contracted to Microsoft under a deal reported at about $17 billion.

The mismatch is the story: the published design shown at public consultation was 32 high-efficiency natural gas engines plus a transition to fuel cells; what inspectors found was 62 generators the company calls temporary. The campus plans to generate about 85 per cent of its own power from pipeline gas — precisely the configuration that slips past the grid-connection levers governments have been writing for data centres, and the regulator that caught it was an air inspector, not an energy or planning authority.

$1.07 million civil penalty — New Jersey's largest ever against a data centre — plus an order to obtain the permits or stop running the generators.

The generators went up and ran for months without the preconstruction permit and operating certificate the state requires for any unit over 37 kW.

What got built — 62 engines — did not match the 32-engine design the public consultation had seen, and the running plant outpaced the permits.

Self-generating 85 per cent of its own load put the campus outside the grid-connection relationship where planning and renewable-matching conditions bind.

Behind-the-meter power is how AI campuses slip past grid leverage, but air permits are the lever that still reaches them — skipping it put 62 engines under a stop order.

DataOne disputed the temporary-generator determination but said it would apply for air permits for the temporary generators and was in communication with the DEP about its findings and its fuel-cell transition timeline. Environmental groups had already filed a Clean Air Act notice of intent to sue over behind-the-meter generation at data centre campuses in San Antonio, signalling the same fight ahead for self-powered AI sites elsewhere.