Watts Bar Fossil

Brownfield

Spring City, Rhea, Tennessee · Tennessee Valley Authority

Legacy capacity
240
MW

Watts Bar Fossil is a coal plant in Spring City, Rhea, Tennessee, retired 2011-12-01. Retired generation sites are among the most attractive datacenter redevelopment targets: the existing interconnection was sized for roughly 240 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 capacity240 MW
Retirement date2011-12-01
EIA plant ID#3419

Grid hookup & remediation

Nearest substation0.7 mi
OperatorTennessee Valley Authority
Operator addressHwy 68 PO Box 2000, Spring City, TN, 37381
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.

Nearby datacenter candidate sites

Scored candidate sites near Watts Bar Fossil, ranked by DC Readiness.

Candidate sites near Watts Bar Fossil
SiteTypeStateCountyVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
SEQUOYAHSubstation-AdjacentTNHamilton County500 kV1,000 MW3.7 yrs79.1
UNKNOWN170313Substation-AdjacentTNMcMinn County500 kV1,000 MW3.7 yrs73.5
Greenfield (BULL RUN - WATTS BAR POWER STA)GreenfieldTNMeigs County500 kV1,000 MW3.7 yrs71.4
WATTS BAR POWER STATIONSubstation-AdjacentTNMeigs County500 kV1,000 MW3.7 yrs71.0
Greenfield (VOLUNTEER - WATTS BAR POWER ST)GreenfieldTNLoudon County500 kV1,000 MW3.7 yrs71.0
TAP152029Substation-AdjacentTNLoudon County161 kV100 MW3.7 yrs70.9
Greenfield (UNKNOWN115540 - WILSON)GreenfieldTNRoane County500 kV1,000 MW3.7 yrs70.9
Greenfield (UNKNOWN115540 - WILSON)GreenfieldTNRoane County500 kV1,000 MW3.7 yrs70.7

Nearby internet exchanges

See all datacenter sites in Tennessee

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 Watts Bar Fossil, Spring City, Rhea, Tennessee. Pro and Enterprise plans unlock the full 164,098-site catalog, raw sub-scores, parcel ownership, interconnection-queue detail, saved searches, and programmatic API access.