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Gridcensus

Merced County, California · CAISO

DC Readiness
45.7
Fair / 100

At a glance

DOS PALOS is a substation-adjacent datacenter candidate site in Merced County, California, scoring 45.7/100 DC Readiness — 45th of 234 scored sites in the county. Its nearest substation is DOS PALOS (0 mi, 70 kV). It sits in the CAISO grid region and the PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO. service territory, where interconnection has averaged 7.6 years from request to operation. GridCensus catalogs 50 MW of candidate capacity here.

Power & interconnection

Nearest substationDOS PALOS
Substation distance0.0 mi
Substation voltage70 kV
Available capacity50 MW
UtilityPACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO.investor ownedrestrictive to large load · terms ≥ 50 MW

Speed to power

Interconnection outlookConstrained
≈ 8.3 yrs typical interconnection wait

Deep queue and long historical waits — plan for a multi-year interconnection timeline and engage the utility early.

ISO / RTO regionCAISO
Queue depth227
Avg queue wait7.6 yrs
Recent queue wait8.3 yrs
Completion rate11%
Withdrawal rate89%

Connectivity

Nearest IXPUnwired FAT1 - Fresno Colocation
IXP distance47.0 mi
Fiber providers7
Fiber coverage25.1%

Site characteristics

Risk & environment

Environmental constraintNone (0/100)
Water stress (WRI)High
Wetlands (NWI)—
Critical habitat—
Superfund nearby—
Hazard sub-score52/100

Location context

Nearest datacenterUnwired FAT1 - Fresno Colocation
DC distance47.0 mi
County hazard (FEMA NRI)Relatively High (48)
DC tax incentiveNo
Commercial electricity25.62¢/kWh
Industrial electricity20.05¢/kWh
Cooling degree days1,000
Heating degree days2,500
Land price / acre$16,527

Regulatory climate

Moderatestate posture · as of 2026-08

No notable statewide DC restriction on record; confirm local zoning and utility tariffs.

DC tax incentiveNo / suspended

Site location

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≥ 7560–7540–60≤ 40
This site + 8 nearby

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How does DOS PALOS compare with other sites in Merced County?

DOS PALOS ranks 45th of 234 scored candidate sites in Merced County. Its 45.7/100 is roughly in line with the county average of 43.1. It is roughly in line with the California average of 45.4 and about 14% below the national average of 53.2.

Against the California average, its strongest sub-score is power availability (46 vs 36) and its weakest is fiber connectivity (57 vs 66). Power and speed to power each carry 20% of the composite score, fiber 12%, water 7% and hazard 6%.

How close is DOS PALOS to power, fiber and other datacenters?

The nearest mapped substation, DOS PALOS, is about 0 miles away and operates at 70 kV. The nearest located transmission bottleneck is 30765_LOSBANOS_230_30790_PANOCHE _230_BR_2 _1 (CAISO), 12 miles away. For connectivity, the nearest internet exchange facility is Unwired FAT1 - Fresno Colocation at 47 miles. 7 fiber providers report service at the location in FCC broadband data. The closest operating datacenter on record is Unwired FAT1 - Fresno Colocation, 47 miles away.

What are the flood, water and hazard risks at DOS PALOS?

At the county level, FEMA's National Risk Index rates Merced County "Relatively High".

Full DC Readiness breakdown

All 13 weighted sub-scores (0–100) behind the composite DC Readiness score.

Power availability20%
46
Speed to power20%
43
Fiber connectivity12%
57
Energy cost10%
50
Water risk7%
24
Natural hazard6%
52
Buildability7%
60
Labor market4%
50
DC cluster4%
40
Land / acreage3%
34
Construction cost3%
50
Gas pipeline2%
10
Tax incentive1%
0
Climate / cooling1%
75

Nearby comparable sites

Other scored datacenter candidate sites in Merced County, ranked by DC Readiness.

Sites near DOS PALOS
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
UNKNOWN306054Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW7.6 yrs51.9
WRIGHTSubstation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW7.6 yrs51.9
SAN LUISSubstation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW7.6 yrs51.9
O'NEILSubstation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW7.6 yrs51.9

DOS PALOS: common questions

What is the DC Readiness score of DOS PALOS?

DOS PALOS scores 45.7/100 on the GridCensus DC Readiness scale, rated fair. It ranks 45th of 234 scored sites in Merced County. The Merced County average is 43.1 and the California average is 45.4.

What is the nearest substation to DOS PALOS?

The nearest mapped substation is DOS PALOS, about 0 miles away, at 70 kV. GridCensus catalogs 50 MW of candidate capacity for the site.

Which electric utility serves DOS PALOS?

PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO. (investor owned) holds the retail service territory that contains the site; its holding company is PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CORPORATION.

What grid region is DOS PALOS in?

DOS PALOS is in the CAISO region. Projects interconnecting there have averaged a 7.6-year wait from queue request to operation.

How far is DOS PALOS from an internet exchange?

The nearest internet exchange facility is Unwired FAT1 - Fresno Colocation, about 47 miles away; 7 fiber providers report service at the location.

Related pages

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 October 10, 2026 — GridCensus refreshes it monthly. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.

Cite as: GridCensus, “DOS PALOS, Merced County, CA”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/california/merced-county/dos-palos-48a4ff56 (data as of October 10, 2026).

Dataset updated . Screening estimates derived from public data sources.

Figures are screening estimates derived from public infrastructure data. Catalogued capacity reflects theoretical candidate capacity, not deliverable or committed interconnection. Confirm all values with the utility, ISO, and on-the-ground due diligence.

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Every site and score for DOS PALOS, Merced County 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.