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Datacenter Sites in Merced County, California

Merced County has 234 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 43.1/100 DC Readiness, with a catalogued aggregate of 6,150 MW. FEMA rates local natural-hazard risk as "Relatively High".

At a glance

Merced County, California has 234 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 43.1/100 DC Readiness, roughly in line with the California average of 45.4. It ranks 12th of 58 California counties by number of sites and 45th by average score. The top-scoring site is LOS BANOS at 56.5/100.

234
Candidate sites
43.1/100
Avg DC Readiness
6,150 MW
Catalogued capacity
theoretical aggregate
Relatively High
Hazard rating
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≥ 7560–7540–60≤ 40
Top 25 in Merced County

Site-selection context for Merced County

No
Datacenter tax incentive
25.62¢/kWh
Commercial electricity
20.05¢/kWh
Industrial electricity
7
Fiber providers
High
Water stress
$16,527
Land price / acre
1,000
Cooling degree days
2,500
Heating degree days
59°F
Mean annual temp

How does Merced County compare with other counties in California?

By number of scored sites, Merced County ranks 12th of the 58 California counties with a county page, holding 2.8% of the state's 8,490 sites. Its average DC Readiness of 43.1/100 ranks 45th in the state and is about 19% below the national average of 53.0. Nationally it has the 81st-largest site inventory of 2,964 counties with five or more sites. 0 sites score 70 or higher and 1 score 55 or higher.

What types of datacenter sites are in Merced County?

Federal Excess sites are the most common (173, 74% of the county's inventory), followed by substation-adjacent (42) and former mine (8). Site type reflects how the parcel was identified — next to a substation, on a former mine or brownfield, on industrial or federal excess land — and is scored on the same 14 factors either way.

What are power cost, hazard, water and fiber conditions in Merced County?

Industrial electricity averages 20.05¢/kWh and commercial 25.62¢/kWh. FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county "Relatively High" (48). WRI water stress is high. 7 fiber providers report service in the county. The climate runs 1,000 cooling degree days a year with a mean temperature of 59°F. Land is valued around $16,527 an acre.

By site type

Top datacenter sites in Merced County

Top datacenter sites in Merced County
SiteTypeVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
LOS BANOSSubstation-Adjacent500 kV1,000 MW7.6 yrs56.5
DOS AMIGOSSubstation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW7.6 yrs52.1
WILSONSubstation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW7.6 yrs52.1
GE3Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW7.6 yrs52.0
SAN LUISSubstation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW7.6 yrs51.9
O'NEILSubstation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW7.6 yrs51.9
UNKNOWN306054Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW7.6 yrs51.9
WRIGHTSubstation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW7.6 yrs51.9
OZ MercedGreenfield——7.6 yrs49.9
OZ MercedGreenfield——7.6 yrs49.8
GALLOSubstation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs49.3
LIVINGSTONSubstation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs49.1
CRESSEYSubstation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs49.0
MILLERSubstation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs48.8
JR WOODSubstation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs48.8
ATWATERSubstation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs48.7
ATWATER TAPSubstation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs48.6
CASTLE AFBSubstation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs48.6
CAPCOSubstation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs48.6
SJVE MADERASubstation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs48.2
NEWHALLSubstation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs48.2
OZ MercedGreenfield——7.6 yrs48.1
EL CAPITANSubstation-Adjacent138 kV100 MW7.6 yrs48.1
SANTA NELLASubstation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs47.8
UNKNOWN306741Substation-Adjacent115 kV100 MW7.6 yrs47.8

Every scored site in Merced County

All 234 sites, best first.

Merced County datacenter FAQ

How many datacenter sites are in Merced County?

234 scored datacenter candidate sites, averaging 43.1/100 DC Readiness. That is the 12th-most of 58 California counties with five or more sites.

What is the highest-scoring datacenter site in Merced County?

LOS BANOS scores 56.5/100 DC Readiness, the highest of the 234 scored sites in Merced County (a substation-adjacent site).

Does Merced County offer datacenter tax incentives?

No datacenter-specific tax incentive is on record for Merced County in the GridCensus county dataset.

What is the natural-hazard risk in Merced County?

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Merced County as "Relatively High" (score 48).

What are industrial electricity rates in Merced County?

Average industrial electricity is 20.05¢/kWh and commercial is 25.62¢/kWh in Merced County.

More in California

About this data

Source: GridCensus composite of HIFLD transmission and substation data, EIA, FEMA National Risk Index, FCC broadband data, PeeringDB and ISO interconnection queues, as published November 13, 2026 — GridCensus refreshes it monthly. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.

Cite as: GridCensus, “Datacenter candidate sites in Merced County, California”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/california/merced-county (data as of November 13, 2026).

Dataset updated . Screening estimates derived from public data sources.

Go deeper than the public screen

Every site and score for Merced County, California is free to browse. Pro adds Watchtower on 25 sites, alerts when new candidate sites, datacenters or interconnection-queue requests appear in your markets, score and capacity history, and CSV export. Enterprise adds team seats, weekly data files for all 147,272 sites, the REST API and an MCP server for AI tools.

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