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Gridcensus

Freedom Power Project

Brownfield

St. Elmo, Fayette, Illinois · Southwestern Electric Coop Inc - (IL)

Legacy capacity
71
MW

Freedom Power Project is a natural gas plant in St. Elmo, Fayette, Illinois, retired 2024-05-01. Retired generation sites are among the most attractive datacenter redevelopment targets: the existing interconnection was sized for roughly 71 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 capacity71 MW
Retirement date2024-05-01
EIA plant ID#7842

Grid hookup & remediation

Nearest substation0.0 mi
Operator address2516 N. 2125 St., St. Elmo, IL, 62458
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 — Fayette 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)3,975
Construction employment277
Land value$6,973/acre
Datacenter tax incentivesales_tax_exemption

Power economics & interconnection

Commercial power rate10.66¢/kWh
Industrial power rate6.61¢/kWh
Load growth (FERC-714)0.7%

Water & cooling

Water stressLow
Public water supply1.3 MGD
Industrial water use0.0 MGD
Cooling degree days1,100
Mean annual temp52°F

Hazard, flood & connectivity

FEMA risk index35.0 · Relatively High
Fiber providers4 · 39% 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.

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Nearby datacenter candidate sites

Scored candidate sites near Freedom Power Project, ranked by DC Readiness.

Candidate sites near Freedom Power Project
SiteTypeStateCountyVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
PANASubstation-AdjacentILChristian County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs62.9
NEOGASubstation-AdjacentILCumberland County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs62.3
UNKNOWN122158Substation-AdjacentILShelby County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs61.3
RAMSEYSubstation-AdjacentILFayette County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs60.8
OZ ShelbyGreenfieldILShelby——4.6 yrs59.5
OZ ChristianGreenfieldILChristian——4.6 yrs59.2
EC Coal Clay CountyGreenfieldILClay County——4.6 yrs57.1
OZ FayetteGreenfieldILFayette——4.6 yrs57.0

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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 Freedom Power Project, St. Elmo, Fayette, Illinois. 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.