Skip to content
Gridcensus

University of Michigan

Brownfield

Ann Arbor, Washtenaw, Michigan · University of Michigan

Legacy capacity
4
MW

University of Michigan is a natural gas plant in Ann Arbor, Washtenaw, Michigan, retired 2002-12-01. Retired generation sites are among the most attractive datacenter redevelopment targets: the existing interconnection was sized for roughly 4 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 capacity4 MW
Retirement date2002-12-01
EIA plant ID#50431

Grid hookup & remediation

Nearest substation0.0 mi
Operator address1120 East Huron, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104
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 — Washtenaw 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)133,883
IT / tech employment1,080
Construction employment4,852
Land value$7,616/acre
Datacenter tax incentiveproperty_tax_exemption

Power economics & interconnection

Commercial power rate9.37¢/kWh
Industrial power rate4.89¢/kWh
Load growth (FERC-714)0.5%

Water & cooling

Water stressLow
Public water supply18.4 MGD
Industrial water use1.5 MGD
Cooling degree days700
Mean annual temp45°F

Hazard, flood & connectivity

FEMA risk index25.0 · Relatively Moderate
Fiber providers17 · 42% 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 University of Michigan — the environmental neighborhood, ranked by legacy grid capacity.

SiteFormer useLegacy MWDistanceCleanup status
Hancocknatural gas plant3923.8 mi—
Dayton (MI)oil plant1012.6 mi—
GRS Lyonnatural gas plant59.4 mi—
East. Michigan Univ. Heating Plantnatural gas plant45.8 mi—

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

Get alerts

Track University of Michigan

Get an email when its DC-readiness score, available capacity, or interconnection-queue status changes.

No spam. Just the alerts you asked for.

Nearby datacenter candidate sites

Scored candidate sites near University of Michigan, ranked by DC Readiness.

Candidate sites near University of Michigan
SiteTypeStateCountyVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
WAYNESubstation-AdjacentMIWayne County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs69.0
MILANSubstation-AdjacentMIWashtenaw County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs67.7
WIXOMSubstation-AdjacentMIOakland County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs67.6
COVENTRYSubstation-AdjacentMIWashtenaw County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs67.4
EC Near University of MichiganGreenfieldMIWashtenaw——2.2 yrs66.6
DEADEND167207Substation-AdjacentMIMonroe County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs66.4
EC Near East. Michigan Univ. Heating PlantGreenfieldMIWashtenaw——2.2 yrs66.2
MAJESTICSubstation-AdjacentMIWashtenaw County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs66.1

Nearby internet exchanges

See all datacenter sites in Michigan →

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

Every site and score for University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Washtenaw, Michigan is free to browse. Pro adds Watchtower on 25 sites, alerts when new candidate sites, datacenters or interconnection-queue requests appear in your markets, score and capacity history, and CSV export. Enterprise adds team seats, weekly data files for all 147,272 sites, the REST API and an MCP server for AI tools.