Vernon Backup Generating Facility

GIC Vernon LLC is seeking a Small Power Plant Exemption from the California Energy Commission for the Vernon Backup Generating Facility, a 99 MW emergency power system designed exclusively to support the Goodman Energy Park data center in Vernon, California. The facility consists of forty diesel generators—thirty-eight 3 MW units powering critical data center loads and two 1 MW units serving office, building, and life safety systems—configured in two separate generation yards, each directly connected to one of the two data center buildings located at 3163 and 3049 East Vernon Avenue. This backup system is strictly for use during outages of the local utility supply from Vernon Public Utility and is not intended to connect to or export power to the regional electrical grid. The project’s sole purpose is to ensure uninterrupted power to the data center during grid failures, with no commercial energy generation or sale involved. The application for exemption is being reviewed by the California Energy Commission, with Elizabeth Huber serving as the primary project manager and Ward Mace as the point of contact for Goodman Energy Park. The project was posted as a forecast on August 5, 2026, and all activities are confined to the City of Vernon within ZIP code 90058. No set-aside provisions or NAICS codes apply, as this is not a procurement but a regulatory exemption request for an emergency-only power infrastructure. The generators will remain dormant unless the local utility experiences a disruption, making the system a critical resilience component for the data center without impacting broader energy markets or grid operations.