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Gridcensus

South Plant (CO)

Brownfield

Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado · City of Colorado Springs - (CO)

Legacy capacity
257
MW

South Plant (CO) is a natural gas plant in Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado, retired 2022-08-01. Retired generation sites are among the most attractive datacenter redevelopment targets: the existing interconnection was sized for roughly 257 MW of generation, so the grid hookup, transmission rights, and often cooling-water access are already in place — collapsing the speed-to-power timeline versus a greenfield build.

Former use & capacity

Former usenatural gas plant
Site typeretired_plant
Existing capacity257 MW
Retirement date2022-08-01
EIA plant ID#492

Grid hookup & remediation

Nearest substation0.1 mi
Operator address700 S Conejos St, Colorado Springs, CO, 80903
Why this site is datacenter-attractive: a natural gas plant of this scale leaves behind a high-capacity grid interconnection that a new load can re-use, frequently shaving years off the interconnection queue. Retired-plant sites also tend to be already zoned for heavy industrial use with established road, rail, and water infrastructure.

Site conditions & market — El Paso County

County-level intelligence for this site's location — the power economics, water, hazard, connectivity, and workforce a developer screens before ever visiting. Assembled from FEMA NRI, BLS QCEW, FCC BDC, USGS water-use, and EIA.

Market & workforce

Total employment (laborshed)252,247
IT / tech employment568
Construction employment17,775
Land value$2,688/acre
Datacenter tax incentivesales_tax_exemption

Power economics & interconnection

Commercial power rate11.55¢/kWh
Industrial power rate9.26¢/kWh
Load growth (FERC-714)1.4%

Water & cooling

Water stressHigh
Public water supply88.3 MGD
Industrial water use0.0 MGD
Cooling degree days700
Mean annual temp46°F

Hazard, flood & connectivity

FEMA risk index25.0 · Relatively Moderate
Fiber providers15 · 64% served

County-level context — address-level utility offerings and flood zoning vary within the county. Confirm site-specific service with the utility and a Phase I ESA.

Nearby brownfield & retired-generation sites

A proximity screen of other retired-plant, contaminated, and EPA-flagged sites near South Plant (CO) — the environmental neighborhood, ranked by legacy grid capacity.

SiteFormer useLegacy MWDistanceCleanup status
SECCoil plant24.0 mi—

Derived from GridCensus's retired-generator & EPA brownfield dataset. Not a substitute for an ASTM E1527 Phase I environmental radius report.

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Nearby datacenter candidate sites

Scored candidate sites near South Plant (CO), ranked by DC Readiness.

Candidate sites near South Plant (CO)
SiteTypeStateCountyVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
OZ El PasoGreenfieldCOEl Paso——1.7 yrs64.1
UNKNOWN202739Substation-AdjacentCOEl Paso County230 kV300 MW6.9 yrs64.1
OZ El PasoGreenfieldCOEl Paso——1.7 yrs63.8
COTTONWOODSubstation-AdjacentCOEl Paso County230 kV300 MW6.9 yrs63.3
EC Near South Plant (CO)GreenfieldCOEl Paso——1.7 yrs63.2
MIDWAYSubstation-AdjacentCOEl Paso County345 kV600 MW6.9 yrs62.9
EC Coal El Paso CountyGreenfieldCOEl Paso County——1.7 yrs62.8
EC Coal El Paso CountyGreenfieldCOEl Paso County——1.7 yrs62.6

Nearby internet exchanges

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Dataset updated . Screening estimates derived from public data sources.

Brownfield attributes are derived from EIA retired-generator and EPA public data. Existing capacity reflects the retired plant's historical nameplate, not deliverable interconnection for a new load. Confirm reusable interconnection rights, remediation status, and site availability with the utility, ISO, and current owner.

Go deeper than the public screen

This page shows a public slice of the GridCensus dataset for South Plant (CO), Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado. Pro and Enterprise plans unlock the full 147,272-site catalog, raw sub-scores, parcel ownership, interconnection-queue detail, saved searches, and programmatic API access.