Skip to content
Gridcensus

Blackhawk

Brownfield

Beloit, Rock, Wisconsin · Wisconsin Power & Light Co

Legacy capacity
50
MW

Blackhawk is a natural gas plant in Beloit, Rock, Wisconsin, retired 2010-04-01. Retired generation sites are among the most attractive datacenter redevelopment targets: the existing interconnection was sized for roughly 50 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 capacity50 MW
Retirement date2010-04-01
EIA plant ID#4048

Grid hookup & remediation

Nearest substation0.1 mi
Operator address852 Pleasant St, Beloit, WI, 53511
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 — Rock 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)60,741
IT / tech employment376
Construction employment3,710
Land value$8,459/acre
Datacenter tax incentivesales_tax_exemption

Power economics & interconnection

Commercial power rate11.93¢/kWh
Industrial power rate7.76¢/kWh
Load growth (FERC-714)0.6%

Water & cooling

Water stressLow
Public water supply16.7 MGD
Industrial water use0.6 MGD
Cooling degree days600
Mean annual temp44°F

Hazard, flood & connectivity

FEMA risk index22.0 · Relatively Low
Fiber providers16 · 51% 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 Blackhawk — the environmental neighborhood, ranked by legacy grid capacity.

SiteFormer useLegacy MWDistanceCleanup status
Rock Rivernatural gas plant3195.3 mi—
Sabrookeoil plant15020.0 mi—
Sheepskinnatural gas plant4223.0 mi—
Orchard Hills Renewable Energy Stationnatural gas plant1625.3 mi—
Rockford Community Solarformer landfill site317.2 micleanup_complete
Beloit Coal Ash Landfillformer landfill site21.4 micleanup_complete

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

Get alerts

Track Blackhawk

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 Blackhawk, ranked by DC Readiness.

Candidate sites near Blackhawk
SiteTypeStateCountyVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
CHERRY VALLEYSubstation-AdjacentILBoone County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs64.0
TAP137909Substation-AdjacentILWinnebago County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs63.9
KITTYHAWKSubstation-AdjacentWIRock County345 kV600 MW2.8 yrs63.9
UNKNOWN124165Substation-AdjacentILWinnebago County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs63.7
PADDOCKSubstation-AdjacentWIRock County345 kV600 MW2.8 yrs63.7
EC Near SheepskinGreenfieldWIRock——1.4 yrs63.5
TAP136942Substation-AdjacentILWinnebago County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs63.5
TAP137873Substation-AdjacentILBoone County345 kV600 MW3.8 yrs63.3

Nearby internet exchanges

See all datacenter sites in Wisconsin →

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 Blackhawk, Beloit, Rock, Wisconsin. 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.