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Gridcensus

Summit Lake

Brownfield

Creston, Union, Iowa · Central Iowa Power Cooperative

Legacy capacity
27
MW

Summit Lake is a natural gas plant in Creston, Union, Iowa, retired 2021-01-01. Retired generation sites are among the most attractive datacenter redevelopment targets: the existing interconnection was sized for roughly 27 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 capacity27 MW
Retirement date2021-01-01
EIA plant ID#1206

Grid hookup & remediation

Nearest substation0.0 mi
Operator address1632 REA Rd, Creston, IA, 50801
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 — Union 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)4,246
Construction employment129
Land value$5,970/acre
Datacenter tax incentivesales_tax_exemption

Power economics & interconnection

Commercial power rate13.42¢/kWh
Industrial power rate8.19¢/kWh
Load growth (FERC-714)1.2%

Water & cooling

Water stressLow
Public water supply4.2 MGD
Industrial water use0.0 MGD
Cooling degree days900
Mean annual temp48°F

Hazard, flood & connectivity

FEMA risk index30.0 · Relatively Moderate
Fiber providers7 · 46% 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 Summit Lake — the environmental neighborhood, ranked by legacy grid capacity.

SiteFormer useLegacy MWDistanceCleanup status
Greenfield Light Plantoil plant614.4 mi—
Corningoil plant122.0 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 Summit Lake, ranked by DC Readiness.

Candidate sites near Summit Lake
SiteTypeStateCountyVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
EC Near Greenfield Light PlantGreenfieldIAAdair——1.4 yrs59.0
OZ UnionGreenfieldIAUnion——1.4 yrs59.0
EC Near Greenfield Light PlantGreenfieldIAAdair——1.4 yrs59.0
Greenfield (UNKNOWN137755 - GRIMES)GreenfieldIAMadison County345 kV600 MW2.8 yrs58.9
EC Near Summit LakeGreenfieldIAUnion——1.4 yrs58.6
EARLHAMSubstation-AdjacentIAMadison County161 kV100 MW2.8 yrs58.4
OZ MadisonGreenfieldIAMadison——1.4 yrs58.4
EC Near Summit LakeGreenfieldIAUnion——1.4 yrs58.4

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 Summit Lake, Creston, Union, Iowa. 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.