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Gridcensus

Silver Lake

Brownfield

Rochester, Olmsted, Minnesota · Rochester Public Utilities

Legacy capacity
99
MW

Silver Lake is a coal plant in Rochester, Olmsted, Minnesota, retired 2015-12-01. Retired generation sites are among the most attractive datacenter redevelopment targets: the existing interconnection was sized for roughly 99 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 usecoal plant
Site typeretired_plant
Existing capacity99 MW
Retirement date2015-12-01
EIA plant ID#2008

Grid hookup & remediation

Nearest substation0.1 mi
Operator address425 W. Silver Lake Drive NE, Rochester, MN, 55903
Why this site is datacenter-attractive: a coal 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 — Olmsted 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)93,461
Construction employment4,082
Land value$7,058/acre
Datacenter tax incentivesales_tax_exemption

Power economics & interconnection

Commercial power rate13.49¢/kWh
Industrial power rate10.79¢/kWh
Load growth (FERC-714)0.7%

Water & cooling

Water stressLow
Public water supply12.9 MGD
Industrial water use1.3 MGD
Cooling degree days600
Mean annual temp42°F

Hazard, flood & connectivity

FEMA risk index25.0 · Relatively Moderate
Fiber providers11 · 84% 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 Silver Lake — the environmental neighborhood, ranked by legacy grid capacity.

SiteFormer useLegacy MWDistanceCleanup status
Franklin Heating Stationnatural gas plant50.6 mi—
Saint Marys Hospital Power Plantnatural gas plant34.9 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 Silver Lake, ranked by DC Readiness.

Candidate sites near Silver Lake
SiteTypeStateCountyVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
BYRONSubstation-AdjacentMNDodge County345 kV600 MW2.8 yrs67.7
NORTH ROCHESTERSubstation-AdjacentMNGoodhue County345 kV600 MW2.8 yrs65.2
UNKNOWN129399Substation-AdjacentMNOlmsted County161 kV100 MW2.8 yrs65.1
EC Coal Olmsted CountyGreenfieldMNOlmsted County——1.4 yrs64.7
UNKNOWN130234Substation-AdjacentMNMower County345 kV600 MW2.8 yrs64.6
EC Near Silver LakeGreenfieldMNOlmsted——1.4 yrs64.3
CASCADE CREEKSubstation-AdjacentMNOlmsted County161 kV100 MW2.8 yrs63.7
UNKNOWN129401Substation-AdjacentMNOlmsted County161 kV100 MW2.8 yrs63.5

Nearby internet exchanges

See all datacenter sites in Minnesota →

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 Silver Lake, Rochester, Olmsted, 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.