OZ Merced
GreenfieldMerced County, California · CAISO
At a glance
OZ Merced is a greenfield datacenter candidate site in Merced County, California, scoring 46.9/100 DC Readiness — 41st of 234 scored sites in the county. 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.
Power & interconnection
Speed to power
Deep queue and long historical waits — plan for a multi-year interconnection timeline and engage the utility early.
Connectivity
Site characteristics
Risk & environment
Location context
Regulatory climate
No notable statewide DC restriction on record; confirm local zoning and utility tariffs.
Site location
Get alerts
Track OZ Merced
Get an email when its DC-readiness score, available capacity, or interconnection-queue status changes.
How does OZ Merced compare with other sites in Merced County?
OZ Merced ranks 41st of 234 scored candidate sites in Merced County. Its 46.9/100 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 12% below the national average of 53.2.
Against the California average, its strongest sub-score is speed to power (43 vs 43) and its weakest is natural hazard (42 vs 51). Power and speed to power each carry 20% of the composite score, fiber 12%, water 7% and hazard 6%.
How close is OZ Merced to power, fiber and other datacenters?
The nearest located transmission bottleneck is 30765_LOSBANOS_230_30766_PADR FLT_230_BR_1 _1 (CAISO), 9 miles away. For connectivity, the nearest internet exchange facility is 801 Tenth Street Modesto (Ayera) at 40.5 miles. 7 fiber providers report service at the location in FCC broadband data. The closest operating datacenter on record is 801 Tenth Street Modesto (Ayera), 40.5 miles away.
What are the flood, water and hazard risks at OZ Merced?
The site is in FEMA flood zone X, outside the Special Flood Hazard Area (minimal or moderate flood risk). WRI rates baseline water stress at 3.80 on a 0–5 scale. No mapped wetlands are recorded on the parcel. A Superfund site is nearby (520 W I ST). 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.
Nearby comparable sites
Other scored datacenter candidate sites in Merced County, ranked by DC Readiness.
| Site | Type | Voltage | Capacity | Queue wait | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOS BANOS | Substation-Adjacent | 500 kV | 1,000 MW | 7.6 yrs | 56.5 |
| DOS AMIGOS | Substation-Adjacent | 230 kV | 300 MW | 7.6 yrs | 52.1 |
| WILSON | Substation-Adjacent | 230 kV | 300 MW | 7.6 yrs | 52.1 |
| GE3 | Substation-Adjacent | 230 kV | 300 MW | 7.6 yrs | 52.0 |
| SAN LUIS | Substation-Adjacent | 230 kV | 300 MW | 7.6 yrs | 51.9 |
| WRIGHT | Substation-Adjacent | 230 kV | 300 MW | 7.6 yrs | 51.9 |
| UNKNOWN306054 | Substation-Adjacent | 230 kV | 300 MW | 7.6 yrs | 51.9 |
| O'NEIL | Substation-Adjacent | 230 kV | 300 MW | 7.6 yrs | 51.9 |
OZ Merced: common questions
What is the DC Readiness score of OZ Merced?
OZ Merced scores 46.9/100 on the GridCensus DC Readiness scale, rated fair. It ranks 41st of 234 scored sites in Merced County. The Merced County average is 43.1 and the California average is 45.4.
Which electric utility serves OZ Merced?
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 OZ Merced in?
OZ Merced is in the CAISO region. Projects interconnecting there have averaged a 7.6-year wait from queue request to operation.
Is OZ Merced in a flood zone?
The site is in FEMA flood zone X, outside the Special Flood Hazard Area (minimal or moderate flood risk).
Who owns OZ Merced?
Parcel records list the owner as PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY (private land).
How far is OZ Merced from an internet exchange?
The nearest internet exchange facility is 801 Tenth Street Modesto (Ayera), about 40.5 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, “OZ Merced, Merced County, CA”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/california/merced-county/oz-merced-25bf5795 (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.
Go deeper than the public screen
Every site and score for OZ Merced, 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.