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Gridcensus

Owatonna

Brownfield

Owatonna, Steele, Minnesota · City of Owatonna - (MN)

Legacy capacity
26
MW

Owatonna is a natural gas plant in Owatonna, Steele, Minnesota, retired 2011-10-01. Retired generation sites are among the most attractive datacenter redevelopment targets: the existing interconnection was sized for roughly 26 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 capacity26 MW
Retirement date2011-10-01
EIA plant ID#2003

Grid hookup & remediation

Nearest substation0.1 mi
Operator address208 S. Walnut Ave, Owatonna, MN, 55060
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 — Steele 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)16,799
Construction employment523
Land value$9,183/acre
Datacenter tax incentivesales_tax_exemption

Power economics & interconnection

Commercial power rate13.07¢/kWh
Industrial power rate9.62¢/kWh
Load growth (FERC-714)0.7%

Water & cooling

Water stressLow
Public water supply4.0 MGD
Industrial water use0.0 MGD
Cooling degree days600
Mean annual temp42°F

Hazard, flood & connectivity

FEMA risk index25.0 · Relatively Moderate
Fiber providers8 · 86% 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 Owatonna — the environmental neighborhood, ranked by legacy grid capacity.

SiteFormer useLegacy MWDistanceCleanup status
West Fairbaultnatural gas plant4913.2 mi—
Montgomeryoil plant2929.8 mi—
Blooming Prairieoil plant117.5 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 Owatonna, ranked by DC Readiness.

Candidate sites near Owatonna
SiteTypeStateCountyVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
OZ WasecaGreenfieldMNWaseca——1.4 yrs65.1
EC Near OwatonnaGreenfieldMNSteele——1.4 yrs64.7
EC Near OwatonnaGreenfieldMNSteele——1.4 yrs64.1
EC Near West FairbaultGreenfieldMNRice——1.4 yrs63.9
UNKNOWN129423Substation-AdjacentMNSteele County161 kV100 MW2.8 yrs63.7
EC Near OwatonnaGreenfieldMNSteele——1.4 yrs63.5
EC Near OwatonnaGreenfieldMNSteele——1.4 yrs63.5
EC Near OwatonnaGreenfieldMNSteele——1.4 yrs63.4

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 Owatonna, Owatonna, Steele, Minnesota. 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.