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Gridcensus

Portage

Brownfield

South Range, Houghton, Michigan · Upper Peninsula Power Company

Legacy capacity
23
MW

Portage is a oil plant in South Range, Houghton, Michigan, retired 2021-11-01. Retired generation sites are among the most attractive datacenter redevelopment targets: the existing interconnection was sized for roughly 23 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 useoil plant
Site typeretired_plant
Existing capacity23 MW
Retirement date2021-11-01
EIA plant ID#8019

Grid hookup & remediation

Nearest substation0.0 mi
Operator address16626 Academy Rd, South Range, MI, 49963
Why this site is datacenter-attractive: a oil 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 — Houghton 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)8,778
IT / tech employment48
Construction employment723
Land value$3,467/acre
Datacenter tax incentiveproperty_tax_exemption

Power economics & interconnection

Commercial power rate15.02¢/kWh
Industrial power rate5.54¢/kWh
Load growth (FERC-714)0.5%

Water & cooling

Water stressLow
Public water supply3.9 MGD
Industrial water use0.0 MGD
Cooling degree days700
Mean annual temp45°F

Hazard, flood & connectivity

FEMA risk index25.0 · Relatively Moderate
Fiber providers5 · 20% 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 Portage, ranked by DC Readiness.

Candidate sites near Portage
SiteTypeStateCountyVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
EC Near PortageGreenfieldMIHoughton——2.2 yrs59.0
EC Near PortageGreenfieldMIHoughton——2.2 yrs59.0
OZ HoughtonGreenfieldMIHoughton——2.2 yrs58.8
EC Near PortageGreenfieldMIHoughton——2.2 yrs57.8
EC Near PortageGreenfieldMIHoughton——2.2 yrs57.4
M-38Substation-AdjacentMIBaraga County138 kV100 MW3.8 yrs57.2
ATLANTICSubstation-AdjacentMIHoughton County138 kV100 MW3.8 yrs56.9
EC Near PortageGreenfieldMIHoughton——2.2 yrs56.8

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 Portage, South Range, Houghton, Michigan. 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.