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McGinness Hills

Brownfield

Austin, Lander, Nevada · Ormat Nevada Inc

Legacy capacity
12
MW

McGinness Hills is a former geothermal site in Austin, Lander, Nevada, retired 2023-08-01. Retired generation sites are among the most attractive datacenter redevelopment targets: the existing interconnection was sized for roughly 12 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 useformer geothermal site
Site typeretired_plant
Existing capacity12 MW
Retirement date2023-08-01
EIA plant ID#57446

Grid hookup & remediation

Nearest substation6.5 mi
Operator address1350 Grass Valley Road, Austin, NV, 89310
Why this site is datacenter-attractive: a former geothermal site 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 — Lander 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)3,143
Construction employment76
Land value$1,115/acre
Datacenter tax incentivesales_tax_abatement

Power economics & interconnection

Commercial power rate5.83¢/kWh
Industrial power rate5.01¢/kWh
Load growth (FERC-714)2.3%

Water & cooling

Water stressExtremely High
Public water supply1.5 MGD
Industrial water use0.0 MGD
Cooling degree days2,000
Mean annual temp50°F

Hazard, flood & connectivity

FEMA risk index12.0 · Very Low
Fiber providers1 · 36% 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 McGinness Hills, ranked by DC Readiness.

Candidate sites near McGinness Hills
SiteTypeStateCountyVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
FRONTIERSubstation-AdjacentNVLander County230 kV300 MW6.9 yrs56.0
AUSTINSubstation-AdjacentNVLander County230 kV300 MW6.9 yrs55.0
EC FFE Lander CountyGreenfieldNVLander County——5.8 yrs45.2
Mine SiteFormer MineNVLander County——6.9 yrs44.3
McGinness HillsBrownfieldNVLander County230 kV12 MW5.8 yrs41.4

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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 McGinness Hills, Austin, Lander, Nevada. 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.